The Creation of a Phantom
by Hornswaggler
Summary: We all know how Danny got his powers, but what exactly happened in the month before the show picks up? Prequel to Danny Phantom, taken a bit more seriously than the cartoon does. Read it and...BEWARE :3
1. The Birth of a Phantom

**Author's Note:**

**A warning in advance…I'm going to slaughter Jack and Maddie. XD I just know it. Adults are always harder to write, especially ones this…strange. They won't be extremely prominent, so don't kill me, kay? =3**

**As the summary says, this goes a bit further into Danny's accident and his discovering his powers. The chapters may be short, but I just want to write it and get it up. ^^ Kay thanks!

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The grand unveiling…apparently wasn't all that grand. As the two cords were dramatically connected, a sudden crackle filled the room with static and the two adults stepped forward eagerly. There was a slight pause and a hushed silence before one large spark jolted from the end of the portal and then fizzled out, leaving the interior dark once more. The silence stretched on a few more seconds before Jack suddenly sighed, letting the cord he still held drop to the floor.

"And there's another one that doesn't work," he muttered, taking a moment to glare at the offending hole in the wall. "I could've sworn I followed the blueprints…" The man pulled a wad of paper out of a pocket, unfolding it and peering closely at the scribbles that covered the surface. His wife simply shook her head, patting his arm consolingly.

"You'll get it to work, dear. At least we finally got the permit to bore a hole into the basement wall. It'll be far easier to work on without all of those land developers around." Jack brightened a bit at this thought, a large grin appearing quite suddenly on his face.

"You're right, of course, Maddie. We'll sit down and look over those polarities later, but for now…" A dramatic pose was leapt into as the man pointed up the stairs. "Let's make some _toast!_" They charged out of the basement, their daughter trailing behind with a weary shake of her head. Danny turned back to the portal frowning slightly as his two friends came to stand on either side of him.

"Think they'll ever get one of these things to work?" Tucker asked with a small chuckle. "Man, the way your dad was going on about this, I was actually expecting _something _to happen. Not exactly surprised, to be honest." Sam snorted, eyes rolling.

"Are any of us? No offence to your folks, Danny, but this is like, the fourth 'big project' that's slumped. Why don't they just get normal hobbies?"

"Normal?" Danny snorted, still staring at the portal intently. "These are my parents we're talking about here. Their definition of normal tends to be a bit different from ours." He sighed, finally stepping forward and running one hand along the edge of the machine. "It's odd though…this is the first idea they've had that makes much sense. I mean, if there _are _ghosts like they keep ranting about, they wouldn't come from here. It'd have to be someplace…different." Silence met these words, and he turned slightly to find both of his friends staring at him, eyebrows raised. "What?" the boy demanded. "Look, I'm exhausted, okay? Lancer piled on the homework this week, I've been lucky to get to bed before one." He gave another sigh, turning away from the portal. "We should probably go back up before something down here explodes." Sam suddenly put out her hand, blocking his path to the stairs.

"Ah, not so fast there Fenton," the girl scolded. "Your parents said I could get a picture of the thing and I plan on it, whether it worked or not." She pushed him back toward the machine, grabbing her camera that lay on a nearby bench. Danny groaned, glancing toward Tucker for some sort of assistance.

"Do you really have to get pictures of _everything _we pass?" he muttered. "I think I liked your ghost obsession better."

"They're too mainstream," she said promptly. "Ghosts are all popular now, so there's no way I was sticking with that. Now just shut up and get into the portal."

"Wait, _excuse me?_" Danny stammered, eyes widening considerably. "What brought this sudden homicidal desire on?" The girl rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't even do anything, moron," she told him. "I don't want just a picture of the wall. It's gotta have someone in it, and who better than the son of the inventors?" Danny shook his head frantically, arms crossing over his chest.

"No way I'm going in that thing, Sam. Knowing my parents, it'll blow up if someone touches it. I bet it's at least all…charged up still. I'd rather keep my hair, thank you." The girl sighed, suddenly holding out one arm. Danny looked down at the bundle she was offering him, then back up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Is that a hazmat suit?"

"Sure is. My parents try to make me wear this every time I come over here. Apparently they don't trust the building itself…this thing is fireproof, shockproof and waterproof, though the latter might not be too much of an issue." She stuffed the suit into the boy's hands. "Just pull it on and stop being such a baby." Danny suddenly turned on his other friend, his face a look of desperation.

"Why haven't you said anything?" he demanded. "This is insane, you know that right?" Tucker simply shrugged, backing up a few steps.

"I'm not taking sides here," he told them. "You guys work this out on your own, I'd rather not be caught in the middle." Danny glared at him for a moment before turning back to Sam with some sense of defeat.

"Just the one picture than?" The girl nodded, gesturing at the portal with one hand while the other held her camera at the ready. "You truly are nuts, Sam," he muttered, stepping into the black and white suit. It was a slightly tight fit, considering it hadn't actually been made for him, but the material stretched reasonably well. Flexing one black-gloved hand, Danny glanced back at his friends; Sam was adjusting some setting on the camera and Tucker was now determinedly examining the work bench as if trying his hardest to stay out of the whole ordeal. The boy sighed, stepping into the shadow of the portal, blue eyes widening slightly to compensate for the lack of light. It wasn't really all that exciting; wires ran down the length of the machine, three thick cords going from the back out into the basement to plug into various things. Danny glanced down in an attempt to avoid the cords, one hand going to the left-hand wall for support.

He certainly hadn't noticed the button until then, the feeling of his hand pushing it down being the only thing that really alerted the boy to its presence. There was so little warning; a slight hiss as some of the circuits leapt into work and an intake of breath from Sam some feet away. The flash of light was blinding, white at first before turning a bright green. Though his eyes burned, Danny found he couldn't close them, and no sound seemed to be coming from his screaming mouth. The pain hit a moment later, as blinding as the light had been. It tore through his entire body and even his hair felt like it was burning. His hands clenched, and only the gloves prevented his nails from drawing blood. His face was contorted with the agony, still trying to scream even though his lungs seemed robbed of all air. The boy felt an odd twisting sensation in his chest as if his organs had suddenly decided to participate in a resistance. The entire ordeal must have only lasted a few seconds, though it seemed like an hour. The light finally faded away and the power shut off with what seemed to be a satisfied click. Danny managed to half turn, the entire room swimming in an out of sight. He caught a glimpse of his friends, both with identical looks of terror on their faces before the boy stumbled forward and collapsed, clutching at his sides as a renewed wave of pain rolled up his body.(*) It wasn't nearly as numbing as before, but it robbed him of what little energy remained, and Danny allowed himself to be pulled into the safety of unconsciousness.

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**And here is where it would fade to a commercial. XD Or something. These may be fairly short, and the entire story won't be all too impressive. I'm just writing it because I want to have some picture of what things were like in this timeframe.**

**I have been given the privilege of using the artwork that inspired this entire story as kinda an illustration. =3 That little ****(*) ****there is where it would go if I could randomly stick it into the text. Copy/paste the link, get rid of the annoying spaces (sorry about that, won't let me post it without them!), view the picture and PRAISE THE ARTIST because they are incredible.**

**Please review! Getting those alerts in my email is one of the happiest feelings ever. =3**

http : / nhaar . deviantart . com/art/The-Birth-of-Phantom-31777946


	2. Snow White Hair

**Author's Note: Like I said, these will be fairly short. I want to divide them somewhat, but they may end up varying in length. Sooo…forgive me for the randomness. =3 Just read, review and don't kill me for killing the characters. ^^**

**This chapter kinda speaks for itself. I'm not sure why, but I seem to have mastered writing scenes that involve pain. My english teacher says I'm an inner masochist. x3 Anyway, on with the story! **

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He faded in and out of consciousness a few times, only aware of the fact that he seemed to be sprawled out on a cold floor. Each time, he tried opening his eyes, but they didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"_Wait, I think he moved…"_

"_What happened to the suit?"_

"_Should we get his parents…?"_

The voices were barely distinguishable and information seemed to be traveling slower than usual. Though he heard the words, there was no connection to what they actually meant. There was a cold, wet feeling on his forehead for a moment and one sentence that actually made sense;

"We're here, Danny. You'll be fine, just wake up…"

The first thing he noticed was the fact that _everything _hurt; no exaggeration. The boy groaned, attempting to discover if anything vital seemed ruptured. He carefully flexed each appendage, slightly comforted by the fact that they didn't seem to be snapped in half, despite what his brain was telling him. With a shuddering breath, Danny managed to pry his eyes open, blinking for a moment before letting them fall shut again. The light above him was intensely bright, though not nearly as bright as that explosion had been…

The explosion…

"Danny?" There was suddenly a hand on his shoulder, though it seemed rather hesitant, and the boy winced slightly. Tucker's hand was unusually warm, so much so it was almost uncomfortable. Perhaps he had been touching the portal after it was charged.

"Danny-_Sam, he's awake!"_ Hurried footsteps echoed in his ears as someone ran across the laminated floor. He felt them crouch beside him, a slighter form that could only be Sam.

"Danny?" she whispered softly, and he could imagine the worried look on her face. "Are you, um…are you okay?" Granted, he had been in the center of some explosion, but he could tell there wasn't anything extremely wrong with him. There weren't any burns or broken bones. He groaned, slowly managing to sit up with one hand on his head.

"I'm fine," he told them, opening his eyes again and keeping them carefully on the floor. The overhead lights in the lab were always bright, and with this headache they seemed to be like spotlights. He felt rather than saw his friends flinch back slightly and glanced at each of them in turn. Their faces held identical looks of alarm. It seemed to be only slightly less fearful than before he had passed out. "Look guys, I know it looked bad…alright, yeah, that probably hurt more than Dash's pummeling, quite a bit more. I'm fine though. Just really sore." He looked between them again, eyebrow rising. "You guys look like you saw a ghost." Danny attempted a bit of humor with little effect; it was often a running joke to say someone saw a ghost, considering his parent's obsessions. To his left, Tucker swallowed.

"Well, um…Dude, I think you need to look in the mirror." Blinking once, Danny managed to get to his feet, eyes closed as he did so to keep the room from spinning again. Oddly enough, his head wasn't throbbing as he had been expecting, but that wasn't anything to complain about. Taking a moment to allow his legs time to remember how to work, he glanced around the lab. No mirrors, of course. It's not like his dad would be fretting over how his lab-coat looked. A blank computer screen could serve the same purpose, though. The boy made his way over to the counter with Tucker and Sam following a few feet behind him. He paused again, hands resting on the surface as his body reminded itself once again the beating it had been through. Staring down at his hands, it took a moment to register that he was wearing white gloves. Why would he have gloves on? He blinked once before remembering; right, the hazmat suit Sam had given him. Were the gloves white? They must have been…Danny exhaled purposefully, dimly wondering why he wasn't out of breath. He then looked up, the reflective surface of the monitor about two feet from his face. There was a dead silence as he stared into the bright green eyes that were staring back at him. He could see his friends in the background; Sam was biting her lip and looked on the verge of tears. Tucker looked as devastated as he had when they had canceled his favorite kind of fries at Nasty Burger. Danny swallowed, hesitantly raising one hand to touch the screen. His reflection copied him, which ruled out any ideas of a picture being pasted onto the computer. He closed his eyes momentarily before turning to Tucker.

"Please tell me I'm imagining this," he said in a near whisper. "My…my hair—"

"It's white, man," his friend told him.

"And…my eyes?" Tucker shook his head. His expression now looked as if he were delivering the news that Danny had some terminal disease.

"Green," he said bluntly. "Bright green." Danny took another breath, barely noticing that it took conscious effort to perform that simple task.

"What…what happened?" Sam stepped forward slightly, her hand half raised as if she was considering putting it on his shoulder. It lowered quickly and she contented herself with staring at a point above the boy's head.

"It was the portal," she told him, her voice shaky. To hear Sam, of all people, having trouble staying composed worried Danny more than anything else so far. "It…well, it was like some sort of explosion. I think you got the full blast of it and it…seemed to do that." She gestured vaguely at his hair, eyes still averted as if she were afraid to see the bright green. "You fainted, I think, and you-" The girl cut off suddenly, eyes fixing on Tucker over Danny's shoulder. Turning quickly, he managed to catch a glimpse of his friend shaking his head before it was quickly stilled. Eyebrow raised, Danny turned back as Sam continued, trying very hard to pretend like nothing had happened. "I was just about to get your dad when you woke up…" She finally looked him in the eye, though he could see how unsettled it made her. "Danny, I really think you need to go to a doctor or something. I'm…well, I'm amazed you survived that." He frowned looking away to glance down at the hazmat suit. There were no marks on it to say he had been through an explosion and the pain was fading away; now he was just sore, as if there had been a week's worth of basketball practices in a day. The only thing that seemed different was his hair and eyes, and really, he was already at the bottom of the food-chain at school. Might as well add this to top it off. With a sigh, the boy shook his head.

"I'm fine, guys," he told them, glancing at the portal once more. "Look, if anything's wrong, I'll talk to my dad or something but…right now, I don't need them worrying over me about this. I can move around fine, and I'll find some way to explain the hair later. With any luck, people will just think I'm trying to be cool or something. It's not like anyone pays attention to me at school anyway." He ran one gloved hand over his face. "Why don't you guys head home? It's not like you have to carry me upstairs or something." His friends glanced at each other and he could sense some silent communication passing between them before Tucker shrugged hesitantly.

"If you're sure, man…if we don't see you tomorrow, I'll tell Lancer you got sick or something. We'll come over right after school either way, alright?" Danny nodded, absently rubbing his arms in an attempt to get some warmth back into them.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm just going to go to bed. When you go out, tell my parents I'm doing homework or something, alright? I don't want them - or Jazz - deciding to give me any teenage therapy tonight." He looked between the other two with an attempt at a smile. "I'll be alright guys, I swear. You two keep looking like I'm about to keel over dead or something." They looked at each other again warily, though he could tell they made an attempt to look calmer. Sam finally sighed, arms crossing.

"Sure," she muttered. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Fenton." The girl strode across the basement, pausing at the door to glance back at him uncertainly. As she started up the stairs, Tucker looked his friend over quickly and managed a grin.

"I think it's a fashion statement, really," he told him. "Just do something about that suit. Hazmat's way out of style." He clapped one hand on Danny's shoulder and Danny was once again surprised by how warm it seemed. The thought wasn't long-lived, however, as Tucker followed Sam upstairs. With a frown, Danny trailed after them, pausing to switch off the lights in the lab before going through the door. He paused at the top step, managing to catch the trail of a conversation from the kitchen.

"-big test tomorrow, Mr. Fenton," Tucker was explaining. "Danny's just gone up to study before he crashes. We'll be over tomorrow to work on a project, if that's alright with you." They were good. A little too good. Jack responded, though the actual words were difficult to pick out through the walls. Danny smirked, shaking his head as he heard them go out the front door. He carefully slipped out into the living room, sneaking past the kitchen where his parents sat pouring over some blueprint. Though he wasn't actually in pain anymore, it took most of the boy's energy to get upstairs into his room. He closed the door softly and fell onto his bed. The hazmat suit wasn't comfortable, but it was far easier to deal with that than try and take it off. Pulling one lock of his hair in front of his eyes, he frowned again at the snow-white color that it had taken on. White hair and green eyes…that would be interesting to explain. With a groan, Danny managed to pull the covers over his head before finally falling asleep.

_Stupid portal…

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**So yeah, not exactly the most expected response from him. Right now, the guy is exhausted. If you think about it, nothing really seems to have changed yet. His eyes and hair are the only things that stand out, because he wouldn't really notice the suit. (Who pays attention to a hazmat suit?) So yeah, he just things it somehow changed his hair and eyes. I assume he's gonna freak out more later. =3 Don't worry, the guy isn't totally stoic. He's tired, I'm tired and all that fun stuff.  
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**Read and **_**review, **_**please! I really love getting reviews to let me know you actually read it, rather than just skimmed through random stories and alerted them. I do enjoy alerts and favorites and stuff, but let me know what you think. =3 Thank you, my wonderful readers!**


	3. As Habit Demands

**Author's Note:**

**Chapter three, how exciting. =3 This is going a lot longer than I originally expected. I thought it to be a really short thing, but oh well! I love writing this, and it's going pretty epic. About now, I'm not too concerned if people think it's wonderful or not. I just want to write down the ideas that come to my head.**

**So, enjoy! Once again, I apologize for any slaughtering of the characters. I'd think they would take this whole ordeal somewhat more seriously than they do in the show. SO I'll stop ranting now and let ya read.**

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**The alarm went off, as it always did; loud, relentless and annoying. With a groan, Danny turned over, hand groping for the button. He finally managed to push it, lying in the silence for a moment with his arm still extended. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he rubbed his eyes, blinking blearily. Lovely…a Wednesday. He could never get the hand of Wednesdays. Swinging his legs out of bed, he glanced down with a rather puzzled expression. Why on Earth had he gone to bed in his jeans and shoes? He knew Sam and Tucker had been over earlier when his parents had called them down into the lab…probably to show off some new experiment. The boy couldn't remember it exactly, but knowing them, they had made he and his friends help clean something up. It would've taken all night, hence his exhaustion. Shrugging the thought off, Danny shuffled around his room in his habitual routine, changing into a new set of clothes. He stood in front of a mirror for a few moments, willing the black hair to lie slightly flat. After a while, he gave it up as a losing battle and wandered into the kitchen. Jazz looked up from her cereal momentarily, eyebrow raised.

"You look terrible, Danny," she stated bluntly, going back to the bowl. "Did you sleep at all last night?" Danny shot her a rather weary glare, pulling the milk carton over to him as he sat down.

"Good morning to you too," he muttered. "I'm just tired. I figure mom and dad just wore me out last night…"

"Tucker said you were studying," she told him critically. "Did you get anything out of that, then?" The boy blinked, pondering over this for a moment. Studying? Why would he have studied? There wasn't any test today…he hoped. Instead of trying to puzzle it out, he simply shrugged.

"I'll survive. Lancer's tests aren't that hard…Why would you guys have the air conditioning on?" He glanced up at the clock without waiting for any sort of answer. He could either wait in here with Jazz lecturing him for five minutes or wait outside alone for five minutes. With a muttered excuse, he stood, abandoning the half-poured bowl of cereal and grabbing the backpack that hung over his chair. Though his sister peered at him closely, he avoided her gaze, blue eyes lowered to the floor as he strode outside. The boy paused for a moment to glance up and down the sidewalk. It seemed much colder than what was normal for this time of year. Rubbing his arms, Danny sighed. Why was he so tired? Maybe he had gotten hit on the head or something down in the lab and someone put him to bed. It would explain his having no memory of the event. Though he considered it for a few minutes, the thought was driven from his head as the bus pulled up and he climbed on, supporting himself heavily on the handrail. Everything was habit, really. He couldn't have told anyone exactly what seat he sat in on the bus, but he knew it was the same one each time. Flopping down onto the plastic, he sighed, looking up to meet Tucker's eyes as he twisted around to look at him. His expression was one of utter shock and Danny raised one eyebrow at him. "Good morning?" he greeted hesitantly. "What's up?"

"Your…your hair…" he stammered. "What happened to it?"

"It's called sleep, Tuck; it sticks up everywhere all the time. It's not like I ever have it neat."

"No, I mean it's…" He shook his head, swallowing. "It's black." Tucker was hesitant? Apparently there was something gravely wrong that he wasn't quite grasping. "And your eyes!" It was a near yelp, and Danny started at his tone. "Danny, how did you do that?"

"Do what?" he demanded, arms crossing. "I got up, changed clothes and got on the bus. Just like I do every morning, as habits command. We've been doing this since the beginning of the year, man, it's not that weird." He was met with a blank stare, and Danny finally looked away, staring out the window as they trundled down the road. He wasn't entirely why he rode the bus anyway. The school wasn't extremely far away. Jazz called it his teenage instinct to be lazy, though he reasoned that being able to finish assignments sloppily as they drove was also a plus. It _did _provide the extra time for people to stare at him though, as Tucker was now proving. Rather disconcerted, Danny stood as soon as they pulled up to the school's parking-lot, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and joining the throng of people trying to depart all at the same time. Tucker called after him once, but the boy simply waved, anxious to get out into the open air. Everyone packed around him seemed far warmer than usual, as if they all had a fever. Maybe a bug had started to spread over the past week…though how _everyone _had gotten it this quickly was beyond him. A few people shot him rather startled looks as they jostled past, something he was use to by now. The son of the Fentons who wasn't obsessed with ghosts? He was weird both because of his family's oddity and because of his normal tendencies. Typical high school.

"Danny!" There was Tucker again. He pushed his way out of the bus just as Danny was reaching the front steps. With a slight sigh, he turned to his friend who was hurriedly straightening his orange hat. "What is up with you, man?" Tucker demanded, jogging to catch up as Danny turned around again to push open the door. "You seem cold today…literally _and _figuratively," he added as he placed one hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Did you end up missing your room and sleeping in the freezer last night?"

"What are you talking about?" Danny questioned with a frown. "It's just cold out here this morning. I'm guessing winter decided to come early or something." Tucker simply shook his head, eyes widening.

"Cold? We passed the bank, you know. Thermometer was at 72. This is far _warmer _than usual. I don't know what's going on, what with your hair and eyes…and now this?" He frowned. "Is this some side affect?"

"Side affect? Side affect of _what_ exactly?" Tucker simply bit his lip, avoiding his friend's eyes. The awkward silence was broken suddenly as they walked into Lancer's classroom, the babble of the rest of the class pulling Danny out of his lull. He lengthened his stride to weave between the seats, habit once again instructing him on exactly where to go. Danny tossed his bag onto the floor beside the desk, vaguely wondering if there was anything fragile in it today. Well, not anymore at least. To the right, he felt Sam's violet gaze on him. Turning, the boy blinked. Her face matched Tucker's pervious one nearly perfectly; she looked fairly petrified which shocked him more than his other friend's babbling had.

"Erm…Danny?" she said almost hesitantly. "What happened?"

"Well apparently that's what everyone is failing to tell me!" he snapped, shooting a glare at Tucker as he took his seat behind Sam. "What, was I supposed to wear a wig today or something? There is nothing wrong with my hair! Or my eyes, for that matter; I must have missed the memo that I was supposed to look different." His friend's shot each other a wary look, but any reply was cut of as Mr. Lancer entered the room calling for silence. Danny sat down, reluctantly pulling out a notebook to give some impression that he was actually planning on working. He set a pen on the desktop and automatically put one hand in front of it to stop the writing utensil's customary flight down the slanted surface. Glancing up at the board for a moment to see exactly what it was he wasn't going to absorb today, the boy was startled as he heard the familiar soft clatter of his pen managing to escape to the floor. He blinked once before bending down to pick it up again. He must have moved his hand without realizing it. Strange though, it was such a habit now. Flipping to a blank page in the notebook, he glanced over at his friends before scrawling a hasty note.

_Enlighten me then; what exactly am I suppose to look like today that I seem to have forgotten? _With practiced ease, he slipped the paper onto Tucker's desk The other boy glanced at it quickly, shot a rather worried look at his friend and then passed it to Sam. She took it rather reluctantly, biting her lip as she read. Taking far longer than it normally would for such a short reply, she finally passed the note back to its creator, her writing rather shaky.

_So you don't remember last night? _A few words were scratched out, though he could make out something that resembled 'accident' through the black. He frowned, writing hurriedly with the occasional glance up at the front of the room. They had all mastered the art of pretending to work by now. It wasn't like there was anything to learn in first hour. Character Ed ended up just being a teacher attempting to get them to talk about morals and such when all that was really accomplished was a bunch of teenagers getting even better at holing up in themselves. Danny pushed the paper back onto Sam's desk having figured by now that Tucker was staying as far out of the conflict as he could.

_I know you guys came over for the 'grand unveiling' of that portal thing my parents built. I was tired even then, so I don't remember a whole lot of it except for the fact that it was a flop. __Big surprise. __I just went to bed after you left and then showed up here apparently some huge shock because I'm normal. Any explanation? _She glanced over at him again with a look that was getting rather tiring already. It was if they expected him to drop dead any second or something. Sam hastily wrote a reply before shoving it onto Tucker's desk behind her accompanied with a scowl that warned him to take part. He looked about to protest but then gave in, picking up his pencil. As the paper was given back to Danny, he unfolded it as quietly as he could, as the class had now gone quiet with most everyone writing something down.

_I'm sorry, Danny, but it just doesn't seem like something you'd forget easily…You went into the portal after your folks left and it kinda...__turned on. You were caught in the middle of the thing and passed out once it shut off again. I can't believe you don't remember it…_

_It's not all that uncommon, actually. _Trust Tucker to have the geeky response. _Sudden shock can often lead to a short-term memory loss. The mind will block out traumatic events in an attempt to protect itself from the stress. That was a decent shock you took, man. Quite literally. _Danny frowned, rereading the words again. It didn't make sense. If he was caught in some explosion in the lab, why wasn't he hurt? His parent's inventions often blew up and they would at least singe hair or something. If this was as big a deal as they were making it out to be, how was it that he was able to be at school today?

Right…school.

"Mr. Fenton, are you with us today?" The freshmen looked up suddenly, startled out of his thoughts by his teacher's sharp voice. Mr. Lancer was standing a few feet away, arms crossed. Luckily he didn't seem to realize that the paper Danny held wasn't full of deep thoughts about the lesson. Hastily putting on his 'interested' face, he looked up at the man and blinked.

"I'm sorry sir, I was finishing writing," he told him. "Did you ask me something?" The teacher frowned as if not entirely convinced of the excuse but shrugged it off.

"We're covering motivation, as you should know. Though the discussion isn't getting very far…" He swept a glance around the rest of the room that had promptly gone back into their conversations now that attention was focused on someone else. "It might help to actually have your book out." As Lancer flipped through the teacher's guide, Danny shot a rather pleading look at his friends. He was surprised to see Sam writing something quickly; no one ever did anything in this class. Why would she be suddenly interested? The reason was presented, however, as she nonchalantly reached back and handed the now-folded paper to Tucker who opened it instantly. Private conversations. Just what he needed right now. Glancing up again, he was rather startled to see Lancer still standing there with the look of someone waiting for an answer.

"S-sorry sir, what?" The teacher sighed, finally turning away to go interrogate someone else.

"Wake up, Daniel. You have seven more hours to get through today." With a slight scowl, the boy watched as Tucker pass the note back, clearly trying his best to keep it hidden. He could tell they were discussing him just by the looks on their faces. Tucker was easier to read than a first-grade chapter book, and Sam seemed far more stressed today than was normal. Danny glanced over the paper still on his desk. Leaning with one hand propping up his head, he watched the clock for a moment trying to think of some response that wouldn't get him hit. How would he forget something like that? 'Trauma' or not, if he were electrocuted it seems like something that wouldn't just go away…Though maybe that was why they were freaking out so much. He wasn't supposed to be alive, let alone coming to school. The thought startled him suddenly, and he felt his elbow fall off the desk. In an automatic attempt to make it seem like he wasn't a giant klutz, he bent over his backpack with a puzzled frown. That was odd…his arm hadn't been that close the edge, or so he had thought. Maybe it just gradually moved without him realizing it.

Putting the thought out of his mind, he moved to absently rub his arm which was protesting about the corner of the desk. Danny blinked as his hand didn't seem to meet anything except the chair. Had his arm gone numb? Looking down, he had to contain a startled yelp. Everything from the elbow down appeared to have…well, disappeared. He looked around hastily, almost ready to get his friends' attention. Was this some after-effect of the shock, thinking he still had an arm when it had actually been blown off? The boy looked back down again and his eyes grew even wider. No…no, his arm was there, just like any normal arm should be. Grasping his wrist to verify that it was indeed solid, Danny shook his head slightly.

"You've got to get more sleep, Fenton," he told himself under his breath. "People already think your crazy. No need to prove it to them." Picking up his pen again, the freshmen glanced once at his two friends before writing two short sentences and putting the paper in front of Sam.

_Outside for lunch today. Apparently there's a discussion to be had._

_

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_Ironically, Danny was late for his own meeting. He had been halfway to the cafeteria when he remembered that they weren't actually eating there today. Consenting to looking rather dumb as he quite suddenly spun around and began walking against the crowd of people, he mentally glared at his own habits. They were demanding sometimes, and when things were as strange as they appeared to be now, they didn't really help.

No, Danny had certainly not had a normal day after his first class. Granted, that one hadn't been all that normal either, but it had gone steadily downhill from there. Though he had classes with Tucker and Sam, he took every effort to avoid them until lunch; not only was there a slight resentment that they had been discussing him in attempted secrecy, but he had a hard enough time concentrating without their worried looks. He was clumsy enough as it was, but it seemed that near everything he held today just didn't want to stay in his hands for very long. Even his backpack was making desperate bids for freedom. Danny paused, glaring down at the floor as he suddenly realized that there was no familiar weight over his shoulder. Once again, the bag had slipped to the floor somehow. With a mutter about the stupid straps, he picked it up again and pushed the front doors open, blinking in the sudden sunlight.

It was a warm day out, he could tell…so why was he so cold? Rubbing one arm, he frowned slightly as he went down the steps onto the lawn. Maybe _he _was the one who got sick. People got chills with fevers, right? The boy put it out of his mind for the moment as he spotted his friends already seated at their customary table off to one edge of the lawn. They looked up as he strode toward them and Danny almost winced at their faces. Sam looked as worried as she had this morning, and though Tucker was currently stuffing his face full of a hamburger, it was obvious he was just as concerned. Danny seated himself next to the other boy and instinctively reached down to open his bag in search for some kind of food. For a moment, he couldn't seem to find the backpack, his hands simply feeling the air. Glancing down, he frowned. No, it was there…why hadn't he felt it? Putting the thought off, he pulled the zipper open and managed to extract a rather squashed sandwich from the mess. The silence pressed on as he bit rather ravenously into the soft bread. Finally, Tucker put his own lunch down and leaned on the table to try and meet his friend's eyes.

"Right, well, we're here," he reminded Danny with his eyebrows rising. "What's up with you, man? You've been avoiding both of us since first period." Well, there certainly was no denying that. He had been the one who had wanted answers, which was the entire point of this meeting. Swallowing the mouthful he had with some difficulty, he ran one hand through black hair.

"Yeah, well, you guys seem to be avoiding any coherent answers," he muttered. "I come to school today and you both act like I should be dead or something." There it was again, that wary glance they seemed to be giving each other a lot. He frowned, arms crossing. "Look, apparently I'm missing a whole lot here. What exactly happened that has you two all freaked out?" Tucker opened his mouth as if to reply, then hesitated. He hurriedly picked up his burger again and took a large bite to fill the silence. Sam simply sighed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the plastic table.

"You honestly don't remember it, do you?" she questioned, and at Danny's glare shook her head. "It was…it was scary, Danny. You went into the portal and must have triggered something in there…It turned on, I think." She broke off suddenly, looking away and Danny turned to the boy next to him with an expectant look. Hesitantly setting his food down once more, Tucker rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

"I didn't see it all," he explained. "It was the flash that caught my attention."

The flash…

_The flash of light was blinding, white at first before turning a bright green. Though his eyes burned, Danny found he couldn't close them…_

"It must have shocked you or something, because you were screaming at first. I was surprised your folks didn't hear it. Scared the heck out of me, let me tell you."

_His hands clenched, and only the gloves prevented his nails from drawing blood. His face was contorted with the agony, still trying to scream even though his lungs seemed robbed of all air. _

He didn't think he had actually screamed. Apparently when it first hit, there was enough air left in him to get out something. Hands clenched on the bench as Tucker continued apparently wanting to get it said before he was slapped or something similar.

"Once it turned off, you kind of…tried to walk out, I think. You passed out then and we had to pull you out of the blasted thing, thinking it might go off again." He paused as if reluctant to continue, then plowed on, ignoring Sam's glare. "You had changed, somehow. I don't know what did it, but your hair was…well, it was white. Like, snow white. Your eyes had turned green, and…" Again, Tucker paused, and as he went on, Danny could tell there was more that neither of his friends were willing to tell him. "Once you woke up, you kept telling us you were fine. We finally just let you go to bed and went home. It's just…we kinda figured you'd still look like that. It didn't seem like something that would wear off overnight." Danny simply stared at him for a moment until Sam spoke up, her voice slightly choked.

"We were worried about you, Danny," she told him. "I mean, that shock…that was huge. I'm amazed you didn't-you came out of that unscathed." Real subtle, Sam. He could hear the words, even if she hadn't finished the original sentence. _I'm amazed you didn't die…_It had been that bad, hadn't it? As if prompted by the first ones, memories of the blast suddenly came racing back. Phantom pains seemed to clutch at his chest, and the temperature around them felt like it fell considerably. It was pain like he hadn't felt before, as if every atom was being pulled apart and then sent crashing back together. With a shiver, unconsciously rubbing his arms, the boy looked back up at his two friends.

"So…so how did I get back to normal?" he muttered. "The eyes…people can't just change their eye color while they sleep."

_Danny exhaled purposefully, dimly wondering why he wasn't out of breath. He then looked up, the reflective surface of the monitor about two feet from his face. There was a dead silence as he stared into the bright green eyes that were staring back at him…_

Those had _not _been his eyes. The face that he had seen wasn't even his. It was a complete stranger staring back at him. Snow-white hair, bright green eyes…and it was like he had been glowing faintly. That was probably just an after-effect of getting pumped full of electricity, though.

"I dunno how it happened, man," Tucker admitted, drawing Danny out of his thoughts. "It wasn't exactly a walk in the park…even if you couldn't remember this morning, you were really jumpy. How many beakers was it that you dropped third hour? Like, five before the bell rang?"

"Yeah…Everything's been falling today. Maybe it's just nerves…but I can't hold onto anything, it seems." The three suddenly jumped as a loud ringing announced the end of the lunch period. With a slight groan, Danny stood, stuffing his half-eaten lunch back into his bag. "I'll see you guys after school…" Without a backward glance, the boy strode off toward class, habit guiding his steps. He was paying practically no attention to his course, his mind still running over the memories that now threatened to overwhelm him.

…_no sound seemed to be coming from his screaming mouth. The pain hit a moment later, as blinding as the light had been. It tore through his entire body and even his hair felt like it was burning._

_Danny managed to half turn, the entire room swimming in an out of sight. He caught a glimpse of his friends, both with identical looks of terror on their faces before the boy stumbled forward and collapsed, clutching at his sides as a renewed wave of pain rolled up his body…_

_Stupid portal…

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_

**Indeed, chapter three is done! Sorry if the last bit seemed a bit forced there. The bell always interrupts important conversations, and things wouldn't be any different at Casper High. ^^ Yes, it seemed like an extremely short lunch period, but I'm going slightly from experience here. Our school gets half an hour each day, so I guess we wouldn't be the only ones that have it cut short. -shrug-**

**This was a long chapter. O: I'd like to thank all of my wonderful readers again! Especially **_ayamari no Goshi_**_,_ who somehow gave me the impression that this thing isn't failing quite yet. (Despite the fact that her version PWNS. Go read it, kay?)**

**Anyway, as it's nearly 1:30 now, I shall finish with my final plea: REVIEW! PLEASE! =3 Any sort of reviews are wonderful! I love them all, and try to reply to every single one I get! Now before Waggy rambles your ears off, I head to bed!**

**Kudos!**


	4. Beyond Hypothermic

**Author's note: **

**I seriously never expected this thing to be this long. X3 I'm not complaining, mind you. I adore writing it.**

**I'd like to thank mah wonderful readers for putting up with my randomness. ^^ Special thanks to my reviewers; **Shadowy Flip Flops of DOOM ; JuneLuxray2 ; SamZ ; Avatar Rikki ; ayamari no Goshi. **You guys are most epic! Also to **Nhaar, **who didn't review here but still told me what they thought. All you guys are amazing!**

**Onto chapter 4!

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**

The rest of the school day passed with few incidents. Alright, so he had dropped everything at least five times an hour, but that wasn't extraordinarily odd. As he climbed off the bus about a block from Fenton Works, Tucker scrambling after him, Danny paused on the sidewalk briefly.

"So you're sure it's not cold?" he muttered, half turning to his friend. At the rather worried look he got, the boy turned away again and strode toward his house. Knowing Sam, she'd arrive in less than five minutes-

"Danny!"

Or maybe she'd arrive now. With a small grin, he turned to see the girl nearly sprinting down the street, her backpack still under her arm. As she caught up, taking a moment to catch her breath, Sam looked him over quickly.

"Still…normal, then?" Danny shrugged lightly, continuing down the sidewalk. The shadow of the giant machinery strapped to the roof was already covering the trio, even three houses away.

"As normal as I can get," the boy stated. "Except for this chill…I think I must've caught some bug or something." He pushed open the front door as they reached it, instinctively stepping back in case his parents had decided to set up some booby trap while he was at school. It had happened far too many times to take chances. As nothing came swooping down to beat him over the head or try and suck out his hair, he stepped inside, pushing the door shut after his friends had followed. A sudden high-pitched whining emanated from the kitchen door and Danny sighed.

"It's us, Dad, don't shoot."

"Did you bring a GHOST with you?" The boy rolled his eyes, tossing his bag on the couch.

"Not that I know of. Put the gun down, Dad, I'd rather keep my hair on my head today." There was a rather disappointed click as the weapon was disarmed and Jack stalked out of the kitchen with Maddie following close behind.

"That's odd," she muttered, tapping a few buttons on the incessantly beeping box she held. "It's saying the ectoplasm levels are way above normal…"

"Are you kids SURE you didn't see a ghost?" Jack demanded, towering over the three. Tucker and Sam flinched back automatically; Danny's father was rather nerve-wracking at the best of times. Today the situation wasn't helped by the fact that he still held an oversize bazooka-shaped weapon. They shook their heads mutely and Danny simply rolled his eyes.

"We're sure," he stated. "Let us know if you find it, then. C'mon guys…" He grabbed his friend's arms, dragging them after him as he retreated upstairs. Ignoring the sudden winces that appeared on their faces, he released his grip only after they were in his room. Tucker muttered under his breath, rubbing the spot where he had been held.

"Geeze, Danny, your hand is freezing," he complained. "I'm gonna get frostbite or something."

"Stop being such a drama-queen, Tucker," Sam snapped, though by the look on her face Danny could tell she was having the same thought. "So…you still have that chill then?" The boy nodded with a slight shrug.

"I've almost gotten use to it now. It's just like it's cooler temperatures everywhere, not too big of a deal." Tucker frowned slightly, then crossed the hallway into the bathroom.

"You guys have a thermometer?" he called.

"Uh…yeah, it's in the cupboard by the sink, but why would you need…?" His question was cut short as his friend suddenly returned and shoved the device into Danny's mouth. Stammering, he pulled it out again and looked at Tucker in disbelief. "What are you doing?" he demanded. "It helps to warn people before you knock out a few teeth." The other boy simply shrugged.

"Fine. I'm about to knock out a few teeth." He pushed the thermometer back in, glaring at Danny in a warning to leave it there. "I have to check this out. Chills are normal enough when you're sick, but it's usually from a fever. You _should _be warm to everyone else. I've been noticing it all day, though; you complain of being cold and you actually _are._ That doesn't exactly seem normal." Danny blinked and then sat with a slight sigh on his bed. Tucker, after shoving his friend over a bit, sat beside him and Sam pulled the desk chair over to watch the two. They sat in silence for a minute before Tucker reached over and plucked the thermometer out, holding it up slightly to the light. The silence continued as his eyes grew wide and he mutely handed the device to Sam. She shot Tucker a puzzled look, then peered down at the red liquid.

"Oh…um…" The girl blinked a few times before looking up at Danny again, eyes wide. He raised one eyebrow, glancing between Sam and Tucker who now wore identical looks of shock. Sam glanced down at the thermometer again quickly as if trying to will it to change. "This is…well…"

"What is it?" Danny finally demanded, hands clutching at the covers of his bed. He resisted the urge to pull the offending tube out of their hands, figuring that wouldn't go over too well at the moment. Tucker swallowed, then as if struck dumb simply handed it to his friend. The boy took it, gazing at them a moment longer before looking down. He always hated these things; they were much harder to read than the simple digital ones, but his parents were convinced that those could be controlled by ghosts. Sure…He peered at the glass a moment longer before frowning. Though the temperature had risen very slightly from the warmth of Sam and Tucker's hands, it had retreated again as he held it and now seemed about where it had been when it had been removed. The red held steady at 88 degrees. He looked up at the others again mutely, willing one of them to tell him it had to be wrong.

"That's…that's beyond hypothermic, dude," Tucker finally said. "That's like, bed-ridden-in-the-hospital cold. You shouldn't be conscious, let alone sitting up and talking to us. I don't know what's going on with you, but it's certainly not normal." One hand clutching his black hair, Danny looked down at the floor in silence for a minute, his head barely shaking back and forth. He looked up for a moment, brow furrowed.

"What's…what's happening to me?" he muttered. "First I look different, then I look the same again, and now I'm freezing without being effected by it?" He stood suddenly and began pacing, arms folded tightly across his chest. "Is this some weird side effect of the blast? But why would getting electrocuted make you cold? It…it doesn't make any sense! It's weird enough getting white hair and those _freaky _eyes, but then they just go away like nothing ever happened?"

"Danny…dude, you'll wear a hole in the floor like that," Tucker told him with an attempt at a grin. His friend turned to face him, eyes narrowed slightly.

"This isn't a joke, Tuck! There's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm hallucinating or something, but then why would you two see it too?" He shut his eyes for a moment, hands over his face before throwing them up again. "Why does this stuff happen to me? It's bad enough having parents who are constantly looking for ghosts in the freezer. Now I have to prove to the school I'm a freak by dreaming up some…I dunno, alternate reality of myself." Danny looked up at his friends, glaring for a moment at their faces which had gone back to their now-normal ones of shock. "What now?"

"Danny, your feet…!" Sam suddenly jumped up as the boy looked down and yelped as he saw - or rather didn't see - his feet sinking into the floor.

"Help!" he choked out. His two friends darted over, each grabbing one arm and pulling him up. The floor didn't seem too intent on holding him and he rose easily, feet clearing the carpet. Looking down again, Danny let out a rather strangled cry. His legs were still there…but they had a strange consistency, almost like he were looking at them from above water. A moment later, however, they turned instantly back to their normal appearance and he was lowered to the floor again.

"What the HECK was that?" the boy demanded, staring at his feet. He turned suddenly to look at the spot where he had fallen in search of some hole. It seemed normal; there were no oddities in the carpet color…and yet he had just nearly fallen through to the kitchen. "I swear, if this is something my parents worked up-"

"Dude," Tucker suddenly cut in. "Your eyes!" Danny whipped around to stare at his desk mirror and then leapt back, one hand clutching at his chest as his heart pounded against it. Rather than the natural baby blue, a pair of bright green eyes were staring back at him, the same eyes that were there after the explosion…He collapsed onto his bed again, staring vacantly at the floor and breathing heavily. The boy opened his mouth a few times in an attempt to say something only to close it again with a small shake of his head. The desperate thought of hallucinations once again passed through his mind, but a quick look at his friend's faces disproved that quickly. They didn't just look worried now; they were both terrified. Mainly to avoid their looks, he glanced at the mirror again quickly. Blue…they were blue again. Attempting to get his breathing back down to a rather steady rate, he folded his arms again.

"This…this is _not _normal…" Danny muttered. "This is way beyond just a shock." He glanced up as Tucker frowned, shooting a glance out toward the hallway.

"Do ya think…maybe the portal was different? I mean, your parents are a bit weird when it comes to that sort of thing. They could've altered it somehow."

"So what, instead of getting 50 amps pumped through me, I'll get 60? Comforting thought. I don't know how that thing works, it could have some weird…radioactive thing in it or something. I'm surprised I'm still alive at this point, especially considering the state the basement was in the last time an invention decided to blow up." He paused to look up again as a rather heavy silence fell. Sam was biting her lip with a frown and Tucker seemed to be intently examining a stain on the carpet. Eyes narrowing, Danny looked between them. "Alright, there is _something _you guys aren't telling me. It's like every time someone says something about the actual blast, you guys suddenly forget how to talk. What happened that I'm not suppose to know about?" The two exchanged glances and Sam suddenly shook her head.

"It's not all that important now. I think right now we need to figure out what's going on with you, _that's _priority."

"Well it doesn't really help to keep stuff from me if it might help us find out what happened, does it?" Danny muttered. With a rather weary sigh, he fell back onto the bedspread. "Right, well, any ideas then?"

For the next half hour or so, they exchanged random theories, though none seemed to fit together with everything that had happened. Danny was only half listening most of the time, his eyes remaining fixed on the ceiling as they spoke. He answered when they asked him questions, but other than that was practically silent. His mind was going at top speed, drowning out many other thoughts. What was happening to him? Was this all just some weird side-effect brought on by the explosion, or did that only trigger something he had always had? He figured it was possible for radiation to change hair color, and maybe even eyes…but for them to switch back over night and then reappear for a moment? And what was with the sinking thing? Was it only in his legs or was he suddenly going to start falling through the floor completely?

The conversation was cut off very suddenly as Maddie rapped on the door, informing them that it was time for dinner.

"I'd love to have you two stay," she informed the visitors. "But tonight might go a little into the 'liability' category. Jack's been…experimenting again. I think it'd be best if you head home for the night." With rather worried glances at their friend, Sam and Tucker stood as footsteps down the hall signaled Maddie's absence.

"We'll…see you later then, Danny," Sam said hesitantly. "Be careful, alright?" He snorted, pushing himself up to a sitting position again.

"Right, because I can control this…" the boy muttered. "Don't get shot at on the way out. My dad can get a little too excited with those guns." The girl frowned as if considering replying, then simply waved and headed down the stairs. Once again, Tucker remained behind for a moment, suddenly rummaging through his bag. At the questioning look he received, he shook his head, finally pulling out a rather crumpled folded piece of paper. Handing it to his friend, the boy turned and followed Sam.

"Don't tell her I gave you that, alright? I'll see ya around, man." The door closed with a soft snap behind him and Danny sat staring at the folded paper in his hands. The indentations from the pencil could be seen on the outermost layer, and he could already discern the handwriting, if not what it said. Leave it to Tucker to save notes…though he had to admit, it was a good way of keeping them out of other people's hands. With a sigh, the boy unfolded the paper, resting his elbows on his knees as he read.

_So what, we're not going to tell him?_

_Sam, how the heck do you propose we break something like that gently? It's not exactly something people want to hear._

_But keeping it from him like this…I mean, if anyone could handle it, Danny could._

_I don't doubt that…but he's already suspecting something's up. That blast should have been deadly, yet he just walked away from it like nothing._

_That's the _point, _Foley. He didn't at first. He wasn't _breathing, _if you remember. I thought he _was _dead, until he started moving…_

_In all meanings of the word, he was…that's what scares me. Not breathing, no pulse and he was colder then than he seems to be today. It was like the blast _did _kill him, and yet he's sitting next to you now like nothing happened._

_Speaking of Danny, I think he's getting suspicious…we're going outside for lunch today. If he asks, _you _can explain the blast, alright? Just…leave the details out. I don't think he's ready for that quite yet._

Danny sat staring at the writing for a few minutes, the words still trying to sink in. _It was like the blast _did _kill him…_He hadn't been breathing?

_Danny exhaled purposefully, dimly wondering why he wasn't out of breath. _

And he had no pulse…?

_Oddly enough, his head wasn't throbbing as he had been expecting…_

It actually made sense now. Everything that night fit together…except for the fact that he was normal today. What was it that had changed him back? With a groan, he fell backwards onto the bed. His head _was _throbbing now, which he would assume was a good sign…at least he knew his heart was doing what it was supposed to. Danny faintly heard his sister's voice calling up the stairs along with a brief growling that seemed to be from the kitchen. He pulled himself up and wandered downstairs, hardly realizing where he was going. Jazz sent him a rather skeptical look as he took his seat, but he kept his eyes on the table. Part of him was worried that if he _did _look up, they would see the bright green as he and his friends had.

Dinner was noisy, as usual, as the steaks constantly had to be beaten down with the mallet Jack had provided. Danny was nearly bitten a few times, as his attention was in no way on the snarling food. He had been _dead, _if they were technical about it. Clinical death, at least…no pulse, no breathing and literally freezing; none were exactly good signs for the living. How was he still here? How could he be sitting here half-listening to his sister ranting about some therapy she was giving to one of her classmates? It didn't make any sense…but then again, what part of his life did these days?

Excusing himself early from the table, leaving his father custody of the still twitching meat, he managed to slip outside and sat on the front stairs of the house. The remaining light of the sunset was bleeding away, leaving only the street lights and windows to light this area of town. It was peaceful enough…but for once it wasn't peace-inducing. Danny was still tense, his mind racing as it tried to comprehend _something_. One thing at a time would have been bad enough today. If it had _just _been his temperature or starting to sink through solid wood, that would have been enough of a shock. One thing after another, however, left no room for much emotion. Right now, it was simply shock. He couldn't explain to himself why he wasn't telling his parents about it. (It was rather obvious why he didn't tell Jazz…) Falling through the floor seemed like something that one would share. Granted, if he told them about his temperature, it would be an immediate trip to the hospital. _That _was something he looked to avoid. Not only did he hate going there, the doctors would start asking questions that Danny just didn't know the answer to. What if his eyes changed while they were there? And what about his hair? It had been white, apparently, after the accident…if his eyes had started jumping between colors, who was to say his hair wouldn't start doing the same?

Putting his head in his hands, the boy forced his mind onto a slightly controlled train of thought. All of these…whatever was happening, they had to be some sort of symptoms. It was almost some disease. What kind of sickness made you sink through floors, though? It seemed like it was the explosion that set them off. Danny was sure he hadn't had green eyes before this…Did it have something to do with the fact that he had been – no, he had _seemed_ – dead? Most importantly at the moment, however was the question of when he would get normal again. He was an outcast enough at school already. A rather quiet freshman with ghost hunters for parents? The perfect combination for ridicule, really. Add this and he might as well be demoted already to the school freak. With a sigh, Danny pushed himself to his feet again, slipping back inside quietly. His father was now shouting at a steak that had apparently gone rogue and attempted to make a break for it across the kitchen. He managed a slight grin at the image of the meat being pinned in one corner with one of the family's many missile-launchers. Ectoplasm didn't affect humans, as Jack had assured them many times. Food, however, was a different story.

Danny managed to sneak past the kitchen door and up the staircase, relaxing very slightly once he reached his room. The note was still lying on his bed, his friend's writing staring at him stubbornly. They wouldn't make something like that up, unfortunately…especially not if they thought he wouldn't read the thing. He paused a moment, staring at the paper before swatting it off of the comforter impatiently. It fluttered to the floor and the boy kicked off his shoes before throwing himself facedown onto the bed. It was an improvement from last night, at least. Though he expected to be kept up most of the night with theories and worries, Danny found himself half-asleep within the first two minutes. Maybe he would just stay home tomorrow…Seeing Tucker the next morning was going to be difficult, as his friend would know Danny had read the note. Perhaps if he had learned some tact, he wouldn't bring it up. (Not too likely.) With a weary sigh, he punched his pillow once in an attempt to make it somewhat softer. Hopefully his parents would believe that he had caught something at school.

But how would he fake a fever…?

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**Not a whole lot to say with this one. I've got a decent idea on how the next chapter will start out, at least. ^^ I want to (again) thank all you wonderful people who added this to favorites, alerts, etc. Once again, I **_**adore **_**reviews. I appreciate everyone for putting up with me this long.**

**One more chapter and this will be the longest thing I have up here. (Chapter-wise, at least!) I'm constantly excited to write it. ^^ Hope ya guys are liking everything so far. Feel free to nitpick and give me suggestions and ideas!**

**Kudos!**

**~Waggy**


	5. Lunch With A Mop

**Author's Note:**

**I always seem to write these really early in the morning…XD Ah well. As this is being written on 9/22/10, I'd like to give a salute to all those going to See You at the Pole. Our youth group didn't manage to plan ours on time, but I'm sure we'll get to it soon.**

**Anyway, a special cheer for all my lovely readers, as always. ^^ You guys are awesome!**

**Aaand here we go with chapter 5!

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**

"Dude…you look terrible." Greeting number four for the morning, and it seemed they were starting to resemble a pattern. Danny shot a weary glare over at his friend as they sat down in Lancer's class. Keeping one hand firmly on the strap of his bag as he sifted through the rubble in it, he stifled a yawn.

"Thank you, Tuck, that makes me feel so much better." He extracted a rather tattered notebook, tossing it onto the desk. As he turned back, he wasn't all that surprised to see that his backpack had, once again, slipped out of his hand somehow. With a weary sigh, the boy pulled a pencil from one pocket and looked back at Tucker. "What's with the look?" he muttered. "Other than the fact that, you know," Danny lowered his voice to an urgent whisper. _"Apparently I'm supposed to be dead?" _Tucker winced, keeping his eyes on the desktop in front of him.

"It's just…I'm surprised you showed up today. I would've thought you'd stay home sick or something, after…well, last night was a bit weird."

"A bit? You call that _a bit _weird? I was sinking -" He cut off, glancing around at the surrounding class and then leaned toward his friend and lowered his voice again. "I was sinking into the floor, Tucker. That's a little more than a bit weird." Danny sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "I was considering staying home…then I realized that my mom would have taken my temperature. Basically, it was a choice between dealing with class today and going to the hospital where I would be expected to explain all this." The other boy nodded with a slight frown.

"I don't know what's going on with this, Danny…I mean, all of this has got to be connected. I think if we found out more about that portal, it might help figure _something _out. Did your parents base it off of any other designs?" Danny simply shook his head, barely glancing up as Sam sat down at his right.

"What happened to you?" she demanded. "It looks like you didn't sleep at all." The boy shot a weary look at her before letting his head rest on his arms.

"I hardly did. It was easy enough getting to sleep, but I think I've started sleep-walking or something. I kept waking up in the kitchen on the floor." He picked up the pencil that lay to one side, idly tapping it against the fake-wood surface. "As if high school wasn't bad enough, I gotta have this added to everything else. I've barely made it through this week so far; if this stuff keeps up, I don't know what will happen to my grades." Sam frowned slightly, eyes narrowing as she considered it.

"And your not going to tell your parents?" the girl inquired, leaning in slightly as the seats around them began filling.

"I can't tell _them!_" Danny exclaimed, raising his head to give her a disbelieving look. "Sam, you know my parents. They'd freak out if they were _normal._ If I so much as say the word 'phase' around them, I'll be dissected within minutes." There was a short silence before Tucker spoke up again.

"Phase? Isn't that something ghosts do?" His friend nodded, laying his head back down on the desk.

"I guess, yeah. For want of a better word, it's basically what I started doing last night…the whole sinking through the floor thing?" Danny sighed, staring at the pencil as it continued to tap at the desk. There was no telling how many things he'd drop today. This pencil had seen miles yesterday, somehow constantly slipping from his grip. He supposed it was nerves, though it was odd that something like that would effect him when he couldn't even remember the accident. No matter how hard he held onto things, however, they would eventually land on the floor.

Or, apparently, on Dash's head.

Danny jerked upright as the all-too-familiar cry of "_FENTON!" _echoed through the room. The class grew silent as the jock suddenly stood, a rather large black mark across one side of his face where the graphite had struck. Blinking once, Danny glanced down at his hand where he could have sworn the pencil still resided…but no, it was gone. What was up with his hand, anyway? It looked different…The thought process was cut short as Dash suddenly slammed both hands on the desk, eyes bulging slightly as he surveyed his prey.

"So now you're _throwing _things at me, are you Fenton?" he demanded. "Are you _mocking _me now, because of _one _fumble?" Danny blinked again. He never went to the football games if he could help it, and it wasn't like he kept up on much of anything the team did.

"One…one what?" the boy stammered, leaning as far back as he could. "No, t-the pencil just slipped, I wasn't throwing it-"

"Slipped and just happened to fly across the room, huh?" Dash looked up suddenly as the door opened, announcing the arrival of Mr. Lancer who immediately raised one eyebrow in their direction. Scowling, the jock shoved the offending pencil back onto Danny's desk and then straightened. "I'll find you later, believe me," he growled, then stalked to the back of the room once more, one hand busily trying to wipe the mark from his face. The class broke into a hushed babble once more as their teacher sat with the attendance book. Tucker immediately leaned over with a frown, gripping the side of his chair.

"What is _up _with that guy?" he whispered, shooting a quick glance back at Dash. "He's had it in for you since the year started." Danny attempted a chuckle, though it came out rather forced.

"You've noticed, have you? Trust me, I'd love to know why he hates me, but unless you've got any brilliant ideas as to how I can get on his good side it looks like I'm in for a treat at lunch." His friend winced, then managed half a grin.

"Could really do with some of that phasing now, eh? Just sink through the floor into the basement…" He trailed off at the look he received and quickly turned back to his desk. Sam looked over instead with a worried frown.

"Forget about Dash; I think we really should be concentrating on the…the _other _issue you have at the moment. We'll deal with your social problems later." She rolled her eyes at the glare Danny sent her and half-turned back toward the front of the room. "Look, just try to keep from getting crippled today. Eat lunch in the closet or something, but we _are _going to look into this after school. The library's bound to have something on weird diseases."

"Weird disease-Sam I do _not _have a weird disease!" Danny told her sharply, both hands now clutching his desk. She opened her mouth to reply, then left it open for a moment with a look of shock. Finally composing herself slightly, the goth swallowed and looked her friend in the eyes.

"Yeah, because…well, I'm sure that's normal somewhere." She hesitated slightly before pointing at his arm. He looked down, puzzled, then had to restrain a yelp at what he saw - or, rather, what he didn't see. Everything from his elbow down had disappeared, and though the sleeve of his shirt covered the rest of his right arm, there was nothing to indicate that it had remained visible. _Again…?_ The boy looked around quickly to see if anyone else had noticed; judging by the fact that there was no screams or even mutters, he figured it was unobserved…for now. Shaking slightly, Danny laid his other hand where he knew his arm should be. It was there, he could certainly feel it; he could even move it normally, and knew that his fingers were flexing as he commanded. It just seemed…well, invisible. He looked over at Sam again hopelessly, not surprised to see Tucker now staring as well. He couldn't stand that look they seemed to always have now…it was more than just worry; his best friends were _afraid. _He didn't know whether they were afraid for him or simply afraid of him…but either option didn't leave a lot of room for optimism. Clutching his head with his hands (though it only appeared to be one hand, as the right one remained stubbornly out of sight) he took a shaky breath. A small part of him was thankful that it was still natural to breathe. What was to say that wouldn't soon change, just like everything else?

"Calm down, Danny…" He heard Sam's voice rather distantly and took a moment before turning to look at her again. "Look, all of this…this stuff, it seems to happen when you're worked up. Maybe it'll go away if you calm down."

"That's not exactly easy to do!" he snapped, voice instinctively lowering as Lancer stood in the front. "If you haven't noticed, I appear to be _missing an arm!_"

"She's right, you know," Tucker pointed out most unhelpfully. "It's always when you're mad or freaked out. Maybe it's a-" He cut off suddenly, turning to the front of the room in a quick attempt to appear attentive as their 'character' lesson began. With a groan, Danny slumped in his chair as much as he could manage, both arms under the desk in the hopes that no one would notice one's absence. Maybe they were right…maybe if he just calmed down some…

That still wasn't easy to do. It took a good five minutes to get his limb to reappear, and just relaxing didn't seem to do it. After a while, he reverted to some other attempts, willing the normal visibility to return. It was almost like trying to levitate a salt-shaker with his mind, which he had tried many times as a young kid; for the most part, it didn't produce any results and just gave him a headache. However, he seemed to have found the general concept. After a little while, his arm simply came back into the visible plane as if nothing had happened.

_Again? It had happened once already…so did that mean these things aren't just random? _Danny absently opened his book, staring down at the page as Lancer read the chapter to his half-conscious class. Self-awareness, apparently, was the topic of this section. Ironically, self-awareness might be of some help; it would be nice to be aware of what was happening to him, why it was happening and, most importantly, how he could just shut the stuff off. By the time the first bell rung, it was taking all of Danny's self-control to keep his limbs visible. Apparently it _could _be controlled…to an extent. Granted, he had no idea how he would actually _make _things vanish (not that he wanted to, mind), but at the moment he seemed able to stay normal. For now. It did sort of explain why things got out of control once he became upset.

Standing with the rest of the class as soon as they were permitted, he was quickly sucked into the crowd and barely managed to work through it to Sam's side. She shot him a worried glance before averting her eyes again and making a rather big deal of adjusting her shoulder strap. The boy sighed, arms folding as he repressed a shiver. Although he was becoming accustomed to the cold now, it still unnerved him, and seemed to escalate at random times only to fall back down again.

"So…" Danny frowned, managing to squeeze into the hallway. "Library after school, then?" Sam gave him another look, this one mostly sympathy.

"Yeah. I'll let Tucker know. There's bound to be _something _there, Danny. We'll get this thing worked out." She hesitated for a moment before putting one hand on his shoulder. Rather than comfort him, however, the freshman only felt a renewed wave of doubt; her hand still felt way too warm. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, as it had been when he first woke up, but it just wasn't normal. Spotting the very slight wince, Sam immediately drew back again and crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "Don't get yourself killed today, alright Fenton?" she told him with a very slight grin. "I'll see you in class." As his friend strode off, Danny stood for a moment longer, one hand automatically rubbing the back of his neck. It was only the sound of Lancer yelling at some random student that reminded him of school, and he spun around suddenly, hurrying to the next class. He already had Mr. Lancer twice in one day; he didn't need to give the man another reason to give some punishment.

* * *

Science was certainly an interesting event. Already known for being rather klutzy, Danny wasn't often one to volunteer for the equipment set-up. Typical, then, that the one time he would have been _grateful _for a partner, the teacher decided to see how the students did 'only working with themselves'. The experiment wasn't exactly a strenuous one, nor one that could get exceedingly dangerous. They were simply watching for different kinds of reactions when, as Danny often put it, 'mixtures of random things were added to other mixtures of stuff to make them explode'. Actually performing the experiment wasn't that hard; it was getting it set up safely that seemed to be the issue.

"Another one, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Wolfe sighed, striding over with a dustpan ready. Danny simply cringed, staring at the shattered beaker that lay between his table and the one behind it.

"Apparently, sir," the boy replied, accepting the broom and being careful to avoid the teacher's eyes.

"That's the fourth one today, Daniel," he was reminded as he knelt to scoop the shards up. "Please, try to be a bit more careful…we're not low on beakers, but at the rate you're going, we may be soon." As Mr. Wolfe turned away again, headed to another station, Danny rubbed his face with one hand quickly before grabbing the broom again. He wasn't exactly surprised to see his hand go straight through it and paused a moment, brow furrowed as he attempted to get it back to normal. It wasn't easy; only ten minutes of class time were left, and he had yet to actually pour anything into anything else. The boy's nerves were frayed, and it was taking all of his concentration to keep everything visible. That, of course, didn't mean they couldn't turn - what was the word he had found? Intangible, was it? The definition wasn't exactly clear, but the whole concept of being unable to be touched fit. He didn't think it was a very common malady. Like knowing the word did a whole lot to help.

As he brushed the last of the glass into the dustpan (once his hand had returned to its solid state, of course) Danny stood, striding between the lab tables to the 'pointy box', as most called it. Granted, it wasn't actually a sharp piece of cardboard; the contents thrown inside it, however, could be a bit painful if one were to submerge one's hand into them. Tossing his former beaker in, he quickly made his way back to his work area, eyes down the entire time. With his emotions threatening to explode out in one form or the other, he had caught a flash of bright green in his reflection on the metal pan a few times. The teachers didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the student's appearance, but it was too much of a risk; on the off chance they noticed something was different, questions would start to be asked, and they would be questions Danny couldn't answer. His classmates would be even more prone to catch the change, so he had kept his eyes on the floor ever since he spotted it. Breathing deeply, he rested one arm on the table-top and stared at the paper that listed the instructions.

"Calm down, Fenton," the boy muttered to himself. "Just get yourself under control. Calm down and it'll go away faster." Saying the words didn't make it any easier, really. Glancing up at the clock, he groaned. Five minutes left in class, and all he had to show for it was broken glass, a blank paper, and completely fried nerves. Giving it up as a definite F, he jotted down a few guesses on the question sheet and tossed it onto the front desk. Danny was the first out the door as the bell rang for lunch, still watching the ground as people streamed around him. They were still far too warm for his liking, but apparently he was beginning to get use to chill. That fact actually unsettled him even more than when he had originally discovered the temperature; if he was getting accustomed to this, did that mean it wasn't about to go away?

"_Fenton!"_ Great. He had almost forgotten about that. Glancing behind him quickly, Danny spotted Dash's glare over the heads of the crowd. He swallowed and then ducked down as much as he could, weaving between the milling students. It was fairly easy, actually; he was smaller than most of his 'peers', and they were giving him a fair amount of space, glancing down at the boy with startled looks. Danny assumed it was due to the fact that he felt as if he had just exited a walk-in-freezer, though it could just be his reputation. Some people seemed to be under the impression that uncoolness was a disease and could be spread.

Closets…no one seemed to look in closets, for whatever reason. Maybe Sam did have a point with that. Pulling the door open, he slipped in and quickly shut it behind him. The noise level decreased dramatically and he watched the shadows of people going past the window. Dash's was easy to spot, as he stood a head taller than everyone else and didn't seem to have a neck. As he passed, Danny sank onto the floor, leaning against the wall. The smell of bleach was strong, but he actually felt a decent bit calmer than he had since first hour. Finding a half-filled mop bucket, which dimly registered as extremely disgusting, he checked his reflection carefully. Blue eyes again. Blue eyes, and his hair had managed to stay black all day. For now, at least, he looked reasonably normal. With a sigh, he pulled a rather squashed sandwich from his bag, pulling the wrapping off as he let his head fall back against the wall. Lunch in a janitor's closet…alright, so it wasn't a first, sadly, but it seemed strange considering the circumstances. As he bit into the soft bread, Danny vaguely considered that his friends might be wondering where he had disappeared to. Although, Sam _had _been the one to suggest he hide. She should know better than to look for him today.

"You really are pathetic sometimes, Fenton," Danny muttered to himself, pulling his knees to his chest as another sudden chill swept over him. "Hiding in a broom closet because you hit a guy with a pencil. High school's going to kill you, and that's _without _all of these stupid 'symptoms'." Ripping into the sandwich with a bit of a vengeance, the freshmen then let his head fall onto his knees. He just had to make it through today…only the rest of the day, and then maybe they'd find some answers.

* * *

**Alright, I admit; this chapter was pretty much filler. =3 Yes, Danny's sort of getting use to the strangeness - as they say, even miracles become commonplace if they happen enough. I mean, yeah, he's still rather freaked out, but it's better to try and fix the thing than worry about where it comes from. Don't worry, he'll do that later on. ^^**

**I apologize if this chapter seems pointless; taking advice of a wise person, I'm pacing myself and not letting all of the exciting things happen at once. (Trust me, I'd love to, but then it'd be really bad. X3) I'm having to hold back ideas now, which is totally against the very fiber of my being. -twitch- Ah well. Hopefully it'll be worth it.**

**So yeah, apologies, not the best chapter, but it's not the worst either. I'll get going on chapter 6 now! Hopefully it'll be more interesting and less filler-ish.**

**RANDOM ANNOUNCEMENT: This story is now the longest I have posted here. ^^ It is beating BtDP by one chapter, and hopefully will be far ahead soon! Heh, I really should work on that other one…**

**Please read! Please review! Please KEEP BEING EPIC. ^^ **

**~Waggy**


	6. A Lack of Cardboard Prisms

**Author's Note:**

**Hey there, to my lovely readers. =3 I apologize now for this one taking a while. If any of you put me on author alert, you noticed I got a really random thing up the other day. It was one of those things that eats my brain and won't allow for any other ideas until I get it down. XD Soo, if ya wanna read it, feel free, but now I shall start chapter six, kay?

* * *

**

"Maybe it's an…allergic reaction to something? But no, why would it just start now then…?"

"Oh, here's something about eyes changing colors…Ah, never mind, it's some nonsense about mood swings."

The search had been going on for well over an hour, the three friends huddled over various books that lay strewn across the table. They would occasionally point out some possible idea, but so far all had been rejected for one reason or another. They had already checked out every common side-effect of hypothermia and come up with nothing that fit. After the first half hour, Danny had begun losing interest in the endeavor and was now staring blankly at the same page he had been on for ten minutes. It wasn't as though he didn't want to find something, but it was beginning to dawn on him that none of them had ever even heard of most of his 'symptoms'. Phasing through things, turning random limbs invisible, his eyes that kept turning green…It wasn't uncommon to have a low body temperature, but it didn't fit in with anything else. He glanced up at the other two, rather relieved to see that Tucker looked to be as lost as he felt. Sam, of course, was still frantically searching. With a sigh, Danny closed the book in front of him, letting his head fall onto his arms.

"This isn't going anywhere, Sam," he told her, voice muffled slightly. "There is _nothing _in here that works. Whatever all this stuff is, I don't think anyone's pieced it together before." The girl looked up, and rather than the glare he expected, she looked fairly weary.

"You're right," she sighed, letting the volume she held fall shut. "I haven't seen anything about turning invisible, other than the normal conspiracy theories. If anyone else has had this before, they didn't report it."

"I wonder why," Danny muttered. "Maybe they had crazy ghost-hunters for parents too and didn't want to get tested." They fell silent for a moment, each in their own thoughts before Tucker suddenly spoke up.

"Do you know anything about that portal?" At the blank look he received, the boy pulled out his PDA, tapping it into life with practiced ease. "Maybe we can look up the effects of whatever it was that was in that thing. Instead of looking to match a disease with the symptoms, we can find what symptoms we're looking for." Danny sat up, arms folding across his chest as he frowned, trying to recall if there was any part of his parent's speeches he had retained.

"They talk about it a lot, especially now that the thing is working…I'm not sure what happens when it explodes or whatever happened, but my dad said they use ectoplasm for the initial start-up." He glanced at the others quickly before explaining. "That green stuff that ghosts are supposedly made of. My parents keep a bunch of it for their weapons. It doesn't do anything to people, but apparently it can mutate food." He almost laughed at the looks on his friends' faces, shrugging lightly. "I've gotten the stuff all over me many times, when weapons backfire. Never done a thing." Tucker then shook his head, tapping the word into some search bar.

"It's the best lead we've got. From the looks of it, the portal is mostly some weird electrical stuff. I didn't see a whole lot out of the ordinary, so we'll try this ecto-whatever." Danny and Sam stood simultaneously, going to stand behind the techno-geek as he stared at the device in his hands. The loading screen seemed to take longer than it should, of course, but once the first results came onto the screen the silence was rather oppressive.

"All ghost stories," Sam muttered, violet eyes flickering back and forth as she read the small text. "Not surprising, really, but I'd think they would have something on the effects…"

"Like I said, it's not supposed to effect people," Danny repeated. "I mean, if we mutated every time the stuff touched us, I'd have seven arms or something."

"All the same, it's the only thing abnormal about the machine…other than the fact that your parents built it, which makes things weird automatically." Tucker scratched his head, then picked up the small plastic stick that served as a pen and used it to scroll down the page. "Wait, this says something about invisibility…" The link opened and they all bent to read the first paragraph, which appeared to be a continuation of a previous page;

_There is still much skepticism about the existence of ghosts, though to those who support the idea of the paranormal, the majority of the entities have similar traits. (Note that the following is assuming ghosts do exist) They are comprised of a substance most know as ectoplasm, which can vary in appearance and texture. Some spirits are reported to be mere vapors, while others appear quite solid and able to cause damage. Though the common belief is that ghosts are always invisible, some say that they are able to switch between being visible and disappearing at will. Flight is an almost unanimous agreement; all reports of ghost sightings have reported flight or hovering a few inches above the ground. The air, it seems, can be almost solid to them. One testimony read "He [the ghost] was some twenty feet above the rooftops, flying down the street like he was looking for something. A green blast suddenly hit him, almost like from a ray gun…The [GIW] team had moved in, … all armed with these weird weapons. The ghost had gone flying through the air, but he managed to stop somehow, crouching as if he were on the ground…" For whatever reason, ectoplasm gives ghosts the ability to become suddenly insubstantial at will. They are apparently able to travel through walls, ceilings etc. but have still been reported to be picking up objects and moving them about._

The article then switched back to the debate between 'real or fake' and the three friends looked up, staring at each other silently for a moment. Tucker blinked once, then quickly closed the search browser and placed his PDA on the library table.

"So…the portal let out a discharge of ecoplasm, did it?" he asked quietly, light green eyes troubled. Danny turned to him with a frown as if expecting the questions that were to come.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, they use tons of it in the thing itself, so whenever it starts up…" He glanced between them, eyes narrowing slightly. "What? Okay, so I might have gotten hit with some of it, so what? My parents do nearly every day, they're fine. Well, as good as they can get, I guess…"

"It's just…this makes some sense, Danny," Sam told him almost hesitantly. "I mean, if you were somehow effected by the ectoplasm, all of the symptoms would fit in. The stuff seems fairly consistent, and from what that page said-"

"Sam, that page was about _ghosts,_" he felt inclined to remind her. "It's just a coincidence that they're supposedly made of the stuff. I mean, how many times have you heard of people getting blasted with ectoplasm and starting to fly around like a ghost or something?"

"That's just it, man," Tucker spoke up, leaning back in his chair to look at his friend. "I've never heard of anything like this before. From what I can tell, whatever you got…it's a first. And you have to admit, this stuff that's been going on with you is a bit too similar to what they said ghosts can do…"

"Tuck, you're missing a very large point here," Danny told him, hands gripping the table edge. "_Ghosts don't exist! _They're-"

"Danny," Tucker muttered quickly, glancing around. "The eyes." With a groan, Danny put his face into his hand for a moment, forcing himself to steady his breathing before he continued.

"They're completely illogical, for one, and even if they did, why would they have to be able to pick things up or do much of anything? They're dead, aren't they? My parents even admit, they've never actually seen one before, even after all these years hunting them." Sam frowned, her arms crossing across her chest.

"Alright, but you've never seen a dodo bird, have you? That doesn't mean they haven't been around," she pointed out. "You haven't seen half the animals that people say exist. How do you know _those _are real?" The boy blinked, raising one eyebrow at her.

"Sam…that's not even relevant. You're comparing solid facts with some weird paranoia. Besides, I thought you agreed with me on this."

"Well…I do, really. The whole ghost theory is just a little too mainstream to even consider fully, but you have to admit, it's the only thing we have." She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. "I mean, you got hit with ectoplasm in that portal which is designed to reach ghosts, and all of a sudden you start having these weird symptoms that most people say are just like what ghosts can do…It may be far-fetched, Danny, but it's the only thing that makes some sense." The boy opened his mouth to reply, then let out a sigh, his head falling back onto his hands.

"I'm not buying it…" he muttered, shifting slightly to look at her. "But it _is _all we've got right now. So what are you saying? There's some remnant of a ghost in me or something?" Sam shrugged, leaning back in her chair.

"I honestly don't know. Something has to be giving you these symptoms. I think all that's left is to find out what it is." Tucker suddenly leaned forward, grinning rather wildly.

"Hey, maybe we could check out the portal again! I mean, now that it's working, it might be more obvious as to what could have happened…" He trailed off at the rather weary looks he received.

"Tuck, you just want to look at the stuff in the lab again," Danny told him. "Besides, I'm not supposed to bring 'unauthorized' people down there without my parents, and if they're with us they might start getting suspicious about what we're looking for."

"Couldn't we just get them out of the house for a while?" Sam asked, a slight smirk coming onto her face. "I mean, I can think of something that would keep those two occupied for at least an hour…" The boys stared at her, Danny looking progressively more wary.

"What would you suggest…?"

* * *

The two practically burst through the front door, both panting heavily. Sam's hair was rather disheveled and Tucker had his bag dangling off one shoulder.

"Mr. Fenton!" the girl called, leaning against the doorframe. "Saw a…saw something on the way…" She trailed off, doubled over as she tried to catch her breath. The large man rushed in, gun already held at the ready.

"Was it a _ghost?_" he demanded, staring around as his wife followed, a welding rod in one hand. Maddie relaxed as she saw them, but then her eyes widened in surprise as Tucker nodded mutely.

"Well…we're not exactly sure, sir," he told them. "But it was…it was green and floating, and it vanished after a few seconds…I think you should check it out, regardless." Jack and Maddie exchanged glances quickly before the man darted off into another room, supposedly to collect weapons.

"Where was it?" Maddie asked them, pulling up her hood as she suddenly became serious. "Was this on the way from the library?" Sam nodded, only now managing to speak again.

"Up toward the school…Practically on the other side of town, but it was headed this way when we saw it, so you might want to check out the whole area." As Jack reentered, arms laden with various guns, nets, and a bag of fudge, they darted through the door without another word, sprinting down the street toward their 'prey'. The two freshmen glanced at each other quickly, then burst out laughing.

"I can't believe they actually bought that," Tucker gasped. "It was taking all my self-control not to laugh the whole time." The girl shook her head, still grinning, then grabbed her friend's wrist and pulled him toward the stairs.

"We have to get Danny. It's a good thing we had him come home before this, they never would have believed it if he agreed with us."

"No need." They both jumped slightly as the boy came down the stairs three at a time, black hair flying into his face. At the questioning looks he received, Danny ducked around his friends and made a straight course for the basement. "If we're going to look into this, we might as well get it done before I can get in trouble for it." With a shrug, Tucker followed and Sam brought up the rear, shaking her head with a mutter of "Boys…"

Even with the house empty, all three glanced around rather nervously before slipping through the door onto the flight of stairs. The lab was always rather eerie when it was dark, and it was only exacerbated with the blatant rule-breaking that went with it today. As Danny flipped on the lights, the long cylinders springing into life with a soft hum, they paused at the foot of the stairs for a moment. The various experiments that littered the counters clearly hadn't been organized in weeks, and only a desk in the corner proved to be orderly. Typically, it was the one desk that Maddie claimed as her own and told her husband to stay away from. With a steadying breath, Danny glanced between his two friends, managing a grin.

"Well, it was you two who wanted to check it out. So…" He gestured at the opposite wall where the portal sat, closed and silent. After a slight hesitation, Tucker strode over to the control panel.

"Seems simple enough," he muttered, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Not really any locks on it, are there?" The other boy shook his head as he joined Tucker, hands behind his back.

"My dad says he's going to put one in later on, but for now it's easy enough to open. It's…this one, if I remember." After pushing his hair out of his eyes, he reached around his friend and jabbed a green button on one side of the panel. The slight hiss of machinery caused them both to spin around and stare as the yellow and black doors slid apart. All three fell silent as they gawked at the swirling green mass that filled the space where a short tunnel used to reside.

"So…So that's it?" Sam whispered, arms crossing as a very slight chill seemed to fall over the room. "Your parents think that leads to some alternate dimension?"

"Apparently." Danny frowned slightly, blue eyes reflecting the dark green glow as he watched it. "Believe me, I'm not willing to test it out at the moment. Let's just check it out and then we can-" He suddenly cut off, going stiff as if he had spotted something extraordinarily shocking. Sam and Tucker blinked, drawing back slightly as a very light blue mist trailed from his slightly open mouth. As quickly as it had come, however, it was gone and Danny was left looking around with wide eyes. "What…what was that?"

"We were just about to ask the same thing, man," Tucker assured him. "That was really weird…which is saying something at this point. What happened?"

"I'm not sure…" The boy clutched at his arms, rubbing them slightly to attempt to restore some circulation. "It was like the temperature suddenly plummeted, and there was this weird clenching feeling here." He placed one hand on the right side of his chest, almost symmetrical to his heart. "Then it just…stopped." There was a brief silence, each wondering whether or not to even mention the mist, but any ideas of it were soon driven from every mind as a sudden cry echoed around the basement.

"_BEWARE_, lowly mortals, for I am..." the rather boxy figure was obviously trying to sound terrifying, but the nasally tone reminded Danny forcibly of a surfer-dude. "The _BOX GHOST_!" There was a slight pause, as if it were trying to remember the next line in a script, but soon gave up and settled for a simple "_BEWARE_!"  
All three teens jerked around to stare at the portal again, eyes going even wider as they landed on a pale blue, almost transparent figure that floated in front of the swirling green. The off-grey overalls he wore were extremely plain, and truthfully, the spirit didn't look in the least bit threatening…but all the same, the sudden appearance warranted for a scream, which was precisely what the three did. Any other time, they may have laughed at the perfect unison of the cry, but it didn't seem relevant at the moment. Sam and Tucker immediately retreated to the wall and Danny began scanning the lab for any type of weapon. Of course, Jack had taken all of them on his goose chase…

The boy stared up at the ghost for a moment, who was currently looking over the room, supposedly for boxes. He didn't seem to be causing a whole lot of harm, but it wasn't like a ghost in one's house was something that could be taken lightly. Danny almost winced as he felt a strange twisting sensation in his chest, as if every organ in that vicinity was joining in a mass rebellion. He could feel, rather distantly, a chill that made itself known in what felt like the pit of his stomach. Being so use to the cold by now, he paid little attention to it for a moment. After a few seconds, however, he almost put the ghost out of his mind as the chill seemed to grow, going vertically in both directions. With a startled yelp, Danny clenched his teeth and pushed it back, using as much of his will-power with that action as he had with keeping limbs visible. After a bit of back-and-forth, the cold settled again, lying in his chest with the obvious intention of staying there. The boy was quickly brought back to the situation as the Box Ghost swooped toward them suddenly, eyes wide.

"Do you not store anything in cube form?" he demanded. "I sense no boxes in this room, which is surely some plot to deceive me!" Sam and Tucker simply shook their heads mutely, mouths hanging open as they stared. Danny stepped forward, overcome by a sudden and (in his mind) idiotic instinct to get between his friends and the strange spirit.

"We don't have _any _boxes!" he snapped, fists clenching as he attempted to stare down someone who was above him. For once, he was grateful for his father's messiness. He never kept things in any sort of container if he could get away with it. "I don't know what you'd even do with them, but you may as well check somewhere else." There was a slight pause as the ghost glanced around, apparently dumbfounded by the lack of his precious cardboard prisms.

"Very well," he finally muttered, still trying to keep up the 'scary' image that was quickly fading away. "I shall search out other places that may pay me service…" He threw up his hands in the classic 'I'm a ghost, fear me' pose that only caused Danny to raise and eyebrow. "_BEWARE_!" With his final word, the ghost suddenly shot upwards, becoming rather distorted looking right before he flew through the floor and supposedly outside. There was a silence before Sam suddenly darted over to the control panel again, slamming down the 'Close' button. The portal slid shut quietly and the green glow faded. As she turned back to Danny, the girl's violet eyes were wide.

"Well, I think I can assume you're no longer a skeptic, huh?" she commented, attempting a rather forced laugh. "I mean…that was…" Shaking her head, she glanced over at Tucker who was now staring at the other boy with one eyebrow raised. "What's up, Tuck?"

"It's just…" He blinked, stepping closer to Danny and peering at him for a moment. "Well, the eyes again, but that's not too surprising. Something seems off, though…" As the bright green eyes were shut quickly and one hand brought to his face, Danny half turned away.

"It gets worse when I get worked up," he muttered. Sam and Tucker exchanged a quick 'told him so' look before he continued. "I don't even know how to control the eyes. The vanishing limbs are hard enough, but-" He cut off, glancing at the others with wide eyes that stubbornly remained green. "Why are we talking about this _now?_ If you hadn't noticed we just had a _ghost _in here asking if we had boxes! This is…not natural!"

"Hence the term 'paranormal'," Sam helpfully pointed out, her arms crossing. "I'm surprised, but to be honest, not as much as I thought I would be. I mean, there's plenty of proof _for _ghosts, and so little that I've seen against them. It just seemed like…" The goth trailed off, staring at her friend for a moment before swallowing. "Danny? Are you…are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" he demanded, eyebrow rising. "I'm fine. Sure, I was just _scared _half to death, but there's nothing broken or anything. Why are you two looking at me like that?" There was a silence, then Tucker cleared his throat.

"It's just that…well, you don't seem to be breathing."

* * *

**Cliffhanger type thing? Well, sorta. XD I realize I don't want to write a month's worth of stuff, so there's gonna be a time skip in the next chapter. I apologize at the strangeness of this chapter. And yes, I realize he probably didn't meet the Box Ghost until…what was it, episode 2? I figured I could tweak it just a little though, as they needed to see someone who wouldn't actually attack immediately. He's 'scary' in the fact that he's a ghost, but he's not exactly a threat. XD**

**So, I shall get to work on chapter 7! Please review, please feel free to send me a message about random stuff, (I enjoy random stuff. =3) please feel free to give suggestions…and please keep being awesome readers!**

**(I'd actually love suggestions as to making this chapter better…it seems a bit off. -shrug-)**

**Kudos!**

**~Waggy**


	7. Famous Last Words

**Author's Note:**

**Wow…Chapter seven? Really? O: I'm seriously shocked that I've made it this long. I usually get an idea, write some of it, then just forget all about it. But this one is extremely fun to write, and I just adore getting all the feedback I do. =3 You guys rock out loud!**

**Okay, to point out in advance, there **_**is **_**a timeskip in this chapter. I have to tie up the last chapter's cliffhanger, but then I'll allow myself to be lazy and not write an entire month's worth of stuff. XD I mean it's been six chapters and I've covered what, three days? So yeah. Timeskip. Watch for it. ^^**

**All my readers are wonderful and grand, and this chapter is for YOU! (As opposed to being for, you know, that rock over there. -points-)

* * *

**

_There was a silence, then Tucker cleared his throat._

"_It's just that…well, you don't seem to be breathing."_

Danny stared at his friend, then glanced down at his chest. Even after that statement, he expected to see the rise and fall that was normal…but there was no movement. One hand shot to the bottom of his throat and he inhaled deeply. It was still _possible _to breathe…but if he didn't force himself to, his lungs just seemed to quit. Staggering back, the boy pressed himself into the counter, though he didn't really know what he was retreating from. Once again, he felt the cold in his chest try to spread, and he fought to keep it down. He had no idea what would happen if it managed to make it through the rest of his body, but he was willing to bet it wouldn't be an outcome he enjoyed. His hand still at his collarbone, there was a moment when he couldn't quite place what was off. Something was missing, other than the oxygen making its way through his lungs. Danny nearly cried out as he realized what it was; there was no pulse, no slight twitch beneath his fingers where it should be. He slid down the side of the counter onto the floor, hands clutching at his hair. It was still black, luckily, and everything was visible…but it seemed that other than the hair and lack of a hazmat suit, he was in the same condition he had been the moment he came out of the Portal.

"Danny…?" Sam's voice seemed distant, and he didn't bother to raise his head to look at her. "Danny, what's happening?" As she knelt down beside him, the boy managed to keep her in his peripheral vision, but he didn't turn. He knew what his eyes looked like, and there was no need to freak his friends even more.

"I would ask you the same thing," he finally croaked, resisting the urge to pull at his hair. "What's happening to me, Sam? I'm some kind of freak show recently, and just to add to the fact that a _ghost _came in here asking for boxes, now I can't get my lungs to do what they're supposed to." He saw her glance at Tucker who immediately joined them on the floor, still tactfully keeping his mouth closed. "How am I still conscious? People who aren't breathing aren't supposed to be sitting up and talking, are they?"

"It'll be fine," the girl told him hesitantly, one hand going to his shoulder. "We'll…we'll figure this out -"

"Figure _what _out?" Danny snapped suddenly, turning to look at her. "Figure out why I should be dead? Figure out how it is I can suddenly pass through floors and make my arms disappear? This isn't _natural_, Sam!" He pointed at his eyes which were stubbornly green and now faintly glowing. "This is far from natural, it's just…scary. Yeah," he added as they were silent. "Yeah, I'm scared. I'm scared of what's going to happen if my body suddenly realizes it shouldn't be functioning in this condition. I'm scared of what my parents would do if they found out about it." The boy paused once more, then shook his head with a very forced laugh. "I'm scared of myself. Just like you two are." The others exchanged a glance and Tucker leaned in with a worried frown.

"We're not scared of you, dude-" He cut off as Danny turned to him with what was almost a glare.

"Really, Tuck? Can you honestly tell me that?" Tucker blinked, opening his mouth to reply, then hesitated and glanced away. With a weary sigh, Danny let his head sink onto his knees. They sat in silence for another minute or so before Sam suddenly stood, glancing at a clock on the far wall.

"We'd better head upstairs, your parents might be coming home soon…" She offered hand to her friend, who paused slightly before taking it, allowing the girl to pull him to his feet. To her credit, she didn't mention how cold his hand still was, instead choosing to point out the positive; "You're eyes are blue again, at least."

"That's supposed to be a comfort?" he muttered, hands going into his pockets as they made their way up into the living room. Sam gave him a rather weary grin, ignoring Tucker's protests as she flipped out the light while he was still a few feet away from the stairs.

"Touché. Alright, so it doesn't help, but you can't blame me for trying."

"Just watch me," the boy countered, pushing the door open as they reached the top. "I'm a master at pinning the blame on anyone." He paused, listening for any signs of life in the house before allowing the other two to pass him, pulling the basement door closed as he followed. His parents hadn't returned yet, and from the information Sam had fed them, they may not be back for another hour.

The trio sat, the shock of the basement excursion slowly being replaced by the strange sense of hilarity that followed such events. Tucker threw himself onto the couch, letting his feet dangle over one side casually and managing a grin.

"Alright, well despite everything…You guys gotta admit, that _was _pretty cool."

"_Cool?_" Danny demanded, actually laughing weakly. "There's something wrong with you, Tuck, and that's saying a lot coming from me."

"Hey, no taunting," the techie scolded. "Think about it though; if we didn't have everything else going on right now, it would have been completely awesome to see a ghost." The other two laughed, vaguely recognizing the fact that it wasn't actually that funny. "And hey," Tucker continued with a grin. "I bet he only ran because he was afraid of Danny here."

"Afraid of me?" the boy repeated, now nearly doubled over with laughter. "You are crazy!" He distantly noticed the fact that his lungs were operating the way they should again, and he could feel his heart beating steadily. It was easier to notice after the feeling had be absent for a while. He failed to mention the fact to his friends, however, as all three of them were struggling for breath.

"Well yeah," Tucker was saying. "I mean, you _did _have green eyes after all. That box ghost seemed like a total wimp to tell the truth. What can anyone do to someone with a bunch of cardboard boxes?"

"Who would be scared by green though?" Danny questioned. "What was I going to do, fire my lazers at him?" Sam shook her head, attempting to speak as she concentrated on breathing.

"He probably thought you were a ghost too," she laughed, then suddenly sat up, mimicking the spirit's voice. "_He has green eyes, he must be some ghost trying to eat me!_" They doubled over in fits of renewed laughter having now reached the point where anything could be funny, whether it made sense or not.

"If that's the case, we have an infestation of ghosts at school!" Danny exclaimed, throwing up his hands in mock fear. "So many people with green eyes, we're sure to be killed!"

"Ah, but you have an advantage over them, Danny," Tucker pointed out, now laying almost sideways on the couch. "You're already dead, after all!" The other boy let out a scoff, shaking his head.

"Hey, do I look dead to you?" He poked himself in the chest with an attempt at a face of concentration. "Nah, still solid as far as I can tell. I'll give you half-dead, how's that work out?" The three friends glanced at each other in silence for a moment before nearly guffawing, Tucker finally rolling onto the floor with a grunt.

"Oh yes, Danny Fenton, the half-dead ghost-boy," Sam gasped, punching her friend on the shoulder. It wasn't an impressive hit at all, as she was still trying to get enough oxygen to her lungs.

"Well then, old chap," Tucker began in a terrible attempt at a British accent, sitting up as best he could. "No work today, would you like to go haunt some old building?"

"Delighted, I'm sure," Danny responded, holding out one hand as if grasping an invisible teacup. "We could grab a snack of ecto-scones on the way, of course!" They had to quit at that, as all three were now laughing too hard to get any words out. It took a few minutes for the hilarity to die down, and the trio sat in silence, attempting to get their breath back. It was Sam that finally broke it, stating what seemed to be a gross understatement;

"Wow, our lives are weird…" The other two shook their heads in a rather bemused way. Danny let his arm rest on the side of the couch, leaning his head against it. The silence stretched on until there was the sudden sound of the door being opened. With a stifled yelp, Danny felt his arm sink through the couch, glancing around quickly before putting it behind his back. His friends looked at him with wide eyes and then shifted closer in an attempt to hide the abnormality from view. As Jack and Maddie entered, the freshmen attempted to look natural, looking up as if a conversation had been interrupted.

"Hey Mr. and Mrs. F.," Tucker greeted, shooting them a grin. "Any luck with that ghost?"

"Neither hide nor ectoplasmic-hair of him," Jack muttered, leaning his gun against the wall. "There were some odd readings once we started to head home, but nothing showed up." Maddie patted her husband's arm consolingly, instinctively handing the man a cookie from a pouch on her belt. His face brightened instantly, and he darted out of the room with his prize.

"Were you kids alright while we were gone?" the woman asked, glancing the three over. "We had to leave so quickly…"

"DID YOU SEE A GHOST?" Jack's voice demanded from the next room, accompanied by a loud crash that seemed to be some plate falling to its demise. The three friends glanced at each other, Tucker fighting away a laugh and Danny attempting to get his usual 'they're talking about ghosts again' expression firmly in place.

"No ghosts here," Sam told them, her arms going behind her head casually. "We've been alright. Didn't burn the house down today, at least." Maddie grinned, tugging the hood of her hazmat suit back down around her neck.

"Well you're welcome to stay for dinner tonight," she told them, her 'hunter' demeanor dropping into the more common motherly attitude. "We're just ordering pizza. It's probably less of a risk." She strode out of the room, the kitchen door swinging shut behind her. As soon as the room was silent again, Sam and Tucker glanced over at the other boy warily. He gave a rather weary grin.

"I'm good," he muttered, holding up his arm as evidence. "Normal again…for now." There was a slightly awkward silence as each looked away, all considering one thing or another.

"Maybe…" Sam started hesitantly with a glance at Danny. "Maybe if we just wait it out, it'll go away. I mean, it can't just stay around forever, can it?" The boys blinked, then shrugged in near unison.

"It _could_ be strange effects of the blast," Tucker put in hopefully. "You know, just a bunch of random responses from your immune system or whatever. They're a bit weird, but maybe that's just due to the weirdness of the whole accident. It doesn't have to be something extremely abnormal." Danny chuckled, shooting a glance at the door through which his parents had exited.

"'Abnormal' describes my life, Tuck. Whatever…this is," he gestured vaguely at his arm, indicating the previous oddity it had undergone. "it isn't normal. But…it can't be _too _weird, right? I mean, no one but us have noticed anything's off, so it's not serious enough to be setting off any major alarms, you know?" They fell silent again for a moment, the only noises coming from Jack's dropping something - again - further into the house. Sam finally spoke up, her gaze locked on some point to the left of the window.

"So…we'll wait it out?" The black-haired boy sighed slightly, letting his head fall onto the back of the couch.

"Yeah, we'll wait it out. Things can't turn out much weirder, can they?"

The often-used phrase 'famous last words' passed through Danny's head, and he groaned inwardly, eyes closing just as they flicked back to green.

* * *

Famous last words indeed…Danny repressed a groan, staring down at the broken glass with resigned annoyance. He spun around quickly, grabbing the dustpan that had been permanently assigned to his station and began sweeping up the shards of what used to be a beaker. Mr. Wolfe shot the boy a rather weary glance as he passed, and the freshman dumped the glass into the 'pointy box' with a bit more force than was necessary. He had been getting looks like that all week and they were starting to annoy him. As he leaned against the lab table again, Danny let his head fall onto the hard surface with a muffled grunt. All of the teachers seemed to note that something was off about the Fenton boy. (More so than the obvious, at least.) Though his marks had never been wonderful before, they had dropped considerably since the accident. The staff blamed it on stress, but it was only partly true.

It seemed the universe had fun messing with Danny, and ever since he had decided to let things wear themselves out, things had only gotten weirder. The phasing was the worst; it wasn't only his arm now, though that was still the most common. Occasionally, he would find himself unintentionally falling through a wall he had been leaning on or even sinking through the floor, like he had almost managed when Sam and Tucker had been over. It explained him ending up in the kitchen in the middle of the night, though solving that mystery was a small comfort. As a result, Danny had barely slept all week. The worry of falling through his bed combined with general stress was enough to keep him up, often pacing the room incessantly while willing his eyes to look normal again. The color change was happening even more frequently, though it wasn't exactly surprising. Every time he began stressing over something, it triggered the 'scary eyes', as Tucker called them. The three had quickly set up a signal to alert the boy of it, as he could never notice unless he checked a mirror or something similar. Sam managed to be very subtle, narrowing her own eyes and tapping whatever surface was nearest. Tucker, however, tended to look slightly deranged as he squinted and pounded one fist against a desk. Despite the weird looks his friend got, however, the warning helped. Danny could then concentrate on keeping everything visible and solid, though it was still difficult to manage both at the same time. Though it was possible to control these 'symptoms' to an extent, he still couldn't get the eyes…it was difficult to tell what it was that should be focused on, considering he never felt any different.

The bell rang suddenly, jolting Danny out of his lull. As the class began hurrying to the door, their teacher stood in the front, raising his voice to be heard over the babble.

"Papers are due in Monday," he reminded them. Raising one hand at the groans that accompanied this announcement, Mr. Wolfe shook his head slightly. "I know no one likes weekend assignments, but if you used the time wisely, most of you should be done by now and need not worry. Off to lunch then, have a good weekend." The students streamed out into the hall, joining the mob that was headed to the cafeteria. Danny, who was just swinging his backpack on, stopped as he heard the older man add "If I could have a moment, Daniel?" With a sigh, the boy turned around again, crossing the room to stand in front of the desk. Mr. Wolfe sat again, realizing that it was always much easier for students if they were able to look down at a teacher. Call it what you will, but he hated making them uncomfortable, unless it was for a good reason.

"You seem…frayed recently, Daniel," the man began, absently straightening a few pencils that lay to one side of the desk. As the boy gave no reply, he continued. "I realize freshmen year is difficult, at best, but students don't usually drop 28 different pieces of equipment in two weeks." He glanced up, brown eyes twinkling at the attempt at humor. As the joke remained unsuccessful, Mr. Wolfe cleared his throat, taking back his rather serious manner. "Not only am I worried about your grades, which are far from wonderful as you know, but you're not yourself recently." He inwardly winced at the next phrase, knowing it was always ones the students despised hearing. "Is there…anything you'd like to talk about?" There it was, as usual; that automatic distrustful look, followed by an almost cold indifference.

"I'm fine, Mr. Wolfe," Danny muttered, arms crossing over his chest. "Things have just been a little…hectic lately. I'm sure I just need to get some sleep this weekend and it'll work out." He added something in a low mutter, though the teacher could only catch 'fall into the kitchen again…' Blinking, the older man sighed slightly and leaned back in his chair.

"Alright, well…I don't want to keep Samantha and Tucker waiting. You're free to go." The boy nodded quickly with a hurried thanks and turned, striding out into the lessening crowd.

* * *

(Pardon the sudden POV switch here, as well as earlier. I think it's sorta necessary at the moment.)

The classroom fell silent as the door swung shut, and Winston Wolfe sat in the welcome quiet for a moment, his eyes closing in an attempt to lessen the headache that had formed. After a few seconds, he rose from his chair, striding around the lab in the customary after-class sweep. His fourth hour usually did a decent job at cleaning up, but there were always the occasional burners left on or beakers sitting on the counters. It was ironic that the class who gave him the least to clean also was before the only period in the day he really had any time. Scooping up an abandoned test tube and returning it to it's cupboard, the man ran one hand through graying brown hair. They were decent kids at Casper High…if it weren't for the fact that he needed all the money he could get, he wouldn't have considered the other job. He almost regretted the transfer, but…Casper could get another teacher, and the position in Oakland paid enough to start saving for a real house.

Winston sighed slightly, glancing down as his foot stepped on something that crunched under the weight. There were a few pieces of glass still lying on the floor, presumably from Danny's latest slip. He had become so accustomed to them, there were times that the boy rushed in the cleaning. He would have to mention that on Monday…crouching down, the teacher brushed the remaining shards into one hand with practiced ease, leaning over the lab table and dumping them into the glass disposal box. Despite what Daniel said, there was something not quite right going on. All teenagers had issues, but something about the sudden change in the boy's attitude worried him. He had been such a lively kid the beginning of the year; rather nervous, of course, as any freshman would be, but there was plenty of spirit. Though there were some issues with the other students - namely one troublesome jock - Daniel had his friends, and nothing seemed terribly amiss.

It was last Wednesday when it started, the man realized. The boy had been jumpy, almost paranoid, and ended up dropping four of the beakers in one class period. It hadn't gotten any better after that, as today's filling of the 'pointy box' would verify. If anything, he was more on-edge, far more defensive. It was almost like there was something he was trying to hide, but he knew he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Winston's frown deepened as he returned to his desk, absently pulling his lunch from the bottom drawer. What could a boy as young as that be hiding? As he bit into the sandwich extracted from a paper bag, the teacher shook his head. There was something up with Daniel, that was for sure…he just hoped he could figure it out before his transfer.

And were the boy's eyes always green…?

* * *

**Alright, sorry for the wait on this one, as well as the shortness…I really did want to get it up tonight, and that seemed like a decent place to stop. =3 It's a birthday present from me to all of my wonderful readers! A bit backwards, to tell the truth, but…Is Waggy's birthday today! -confetti- I feel rather old, at 16 now. XD So…as a reverse present, HAVE THIS CHAPTER!**

**I might be going a little AU with Mr. Wolfe, but I like him. =3 He might come in a little more later, but don't worry; the guy won't interfere with the correct ending of the story. He's getting transferred, after all, as Casper High didn't have a Winston Wolfe when we came in!**

**Again, sorry this one's shorter…I'll try to make the next chapter a good length! I have to plan it first, of course. x3 Waggy's discovered the joy of outlines. I've got one all set up for these first 7 chapters. It helps find all the usefulness of information that I'd otherwise have to search for. I might post it after the whole thing's done, so you can see my random thought process. =3  
**

**Reviews are SO LOVED. ^^ Thank you, all my wonderful readers!**

**Kudos!**

**~Waggy**


	8. Symptoms

**Author's Note:**

**Hey there, all my wonderful readers! =3 I apologize (as usual) for the time it took to get this up…I warn you, it might be a trend. School is killer, and it enjoys eating my free time.**

**Anyway, there's not a lot to say about this chapter. It might be kinda short, but I think you can resist killing me, right? Right. ^^**

**(I've totally forgotten about this until now!) DISCLAIMER: The plot does not belong to me, the name does not belong to me, the characters do not belong to me…need I go further? However, if you are stupid and just copy/paste this, calling it your own, be prepared to face a horde of undead flamethrowers.**

**You've been warned.

* * *

**

The rest of the school day was as odd as could be expected. Rain clouds were beginning to gather to the north, so the trio took advantage of an empty front lawn and ate lunch outdoors. They had been trying to avoid the majority of the student population all week in an attempt to keep stress levels down. Danny's 'symptoms' hadn't been discussed since last Thursday, and though he would occasionally make some sarcastic remark about falling into the basement to get out of class, the boy was pointedly trying to keep them out of mind. More often than not, however, the few times they managed to forget about it for a moment something else would happen that would cause Sam and Tucker to exchange rather worried glances while their friend immediately attempted to revert his limbs back to normal. None of them mentioned the fact that it wasn't common to be able to control symptoms of any sort without medication, which Danny had now been managing (to an extent) for more than a week.

Lunch had, shockingly, been going along fairly normally at first. The three friends were debating the best way to get Dash expelled (which was always fun to discuss, even if none of the ideas would work) and, for once, not even considering Danny's occasional oddities. The cool weather kept most of the students indoors, as they preferred not to go to the trouble of wearing a jacket and simply ate in the cafeteria. Sam was letting her chin rest on her arms, watching as the two boys laughed uproariously at some scheme involving a taxi, some chocolate and (she hadn't quite figured this part out yet) a squirrel. As Tucker was concentrating on not passing out, he was the only one not to notice Danny suddenly shiver, all laughter gone from his face as he stiffened with a gasp. Sam sat up, eyes widening, carefully watching her friend for any signs of needing help. It took her a moment to notice the faint mist coming from his mouth, almost like breath on a cold day. It wasn't that cold out though…and if it was just a chill, why did he look so terrified? By now Tucker had noticed something amiss and was glancing around in an attempt to locate whatever it was that had shocked the other boy. There was a moment of silence before Danny's shoulders relaxed again, though he still seemed extremely tense.

"Dude…What was _that_?" Tucker asked immediately, taking the movement as an invitation to speak.

"I wish I knew!" the black-haired boy growled, rubbing his arms. "It was that…that weird chill again. Colder than usual," he felt compelled to add, glancing up briefly. "With the clenching here…" Danny gestured vaguely to the right side of his chest before letting his hand drop, aware that two sets of eyes were stubbornly examining him. He knew what they would see if he looked up, and therefore kept his eyes pointedly on the wooden table. Though he still couldn't feel the change, he had enough experience to know when the baby-blue would switch to that piercing green he had grown to detest. The silence stretched on for a while before it was interrupted - quite suddenly - by an all too familiar voice.

"At last! I have discovered the corrugated cardboard that I sought!" The three freshmen whipped around to stare across the street, eyes widening even further at the sight of the same squat little ghost that had appeared in the basement. His nasally voice, even though it was only the second time they had heard it, was already beginning to grate on Danny's nerves. Although his friends instinctively moved back, the boy stood with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed. The self-proclaimed 'Box Ghost' didn't appear too interested in the school and seemed to be ranting to himself as he surveyed his prizes: three rather large cardboard boxes hovered around him, all glowing faintly. They were a bit tattered, but recognizable as boxes nonetheless.

"It took him this long to find a box?" Danny muttered, watching closely as the blue ghost carefully stacked the prisms inside one another, grinning like some toddler who had found an abandoned toy car. "This guy must be dense…hardly looks worth hunting." Indeed, the spirit was currently of little threat, as he had yet to notice his audience. The fact that there was supposedly no one around to hear his speech didn't seem to bother him, however, and he continued his tirade undaunted.

"Now that the collection has begun, the Box Ghost shall once again rise to be the most feared in all of…" He paused, bending to peer at the writing on the side of one of the boxes. "Oh yeah…_5825 Southwest Lincoln Drive!_" The ghost chuckled to himself, once again reminding the three of an extremely annoying surfer before shouting a parting _"BEWARE!"_ to the general vicinity and flying off over the rooftops, his boxes tailing behind him as if tied by a cord. There was a shocked silence as the ghost left their range of vision, though they were all staring after him with rather blank looks. Tucker finally let his head fall onto the table with a muffled thump, letting out a soft groan.

"So I guess this means I wasn't dreaming last week, huh?" he asked, turning slightly to watch Danny as he sat down. "I mean, I wasn't too hopeful, but…"

"This is too much of a coincidence," the other boy muttered as Tucker trailed off. He was staring at the table again, not to avoid any looks, but in an attempt to avoid distractions as he thought it over. "It has to be connected somehow…but is it just for that idiot, or would it show up other times too?" There was a pause as Sam raised an eyebrow before crossing her arms.

"If you plan on including us in on this your conversation with yourself, please let us know," she told him, managing sarcasm even though it was clear the ghost's appearance had shaken her slightly. Danny, much to her annoyance, simply shook his head and stood, grabbing his bag from underneath the table.

"I have to think this over," he stated, glancing between his two friends. "Look, can you guys make it over after school? You haven't managed it since the ham incident on Monday, and I'll make sure the food isn't dangerous tonight. We need to go over some stuff." Exchanging glances, Sam and Tucker frowned, then nodded, standing with him.

"We'll come, but…what's up, man? You look like you've seen -" Tucker trailed off, eyes narrowing as he searched for a less appropriate expression. "Well, something that _isn't _getting a little too familiar for my tastes." Danny simply sighed, glancing back as he made his way up the steps.

"I'm not entirely sure, Tuck. I have some ideas, but…let's just say I hope I'm wrong."

* * *

It was always a bit of a risk holding 'meetings' in Danny's room, as there was the chance of his parents or Jazz catching parts of conversations as they passed. There wasn't a whole lot of other options, however, and the teens had gotten quite good at listening for any footsteps up the stairs. They seated themselves on the far side of the room, where Danny knew the wall was thicker (phasing through drywall gave one a decent perspective of it, and it had happened more than once when the boy had been leaning against that area as he waited for the bathroom) and hopefully muffled noise more. A few sheets of paper lay on the carpeted floor and Sam was idly tapping a pencil on her boot. As per usual, Danny was pacing between his bed and the window, hands stuffed into his pockets. Tucker was following his movements rather warily, as if expecting him to attack the comforter at any moment.

"Right," the girl muttered, her violet eyes on the list in front of her. "Unless you can think of any more, I think we've got them all here. It's...longer than I thought. Are you sure all this stuff happened?" The black-haired boy paused to shoot her a tired glare before resuming his ceaseless strides.

"Of course I'm sure. It happened to me, didn't it? Read them over once, make sure we haven't left anything out." Sam sighed slightly, then picked up the paper and leaned back against the desk.

"Since…what was it, Tuesday? You've had…" She paused for a moment as if preferring not to say it aloud, then continued. "Phasing, invisibility, green eyes, white hair (only once, thank goodness), no breathing, no pulse, temperature that hasn't gotten above 88 since the accident…and that weird clenching feeling, whatever that means." With a frown, she looked up again. The two boys were silent, Danny finally standing still as he stared at the opposite wall intently. The room seemed slightly tense until Tucker suddenly glanced down at his PDA and then back at his friends.

"Well, we know one thing for sure." The others turned to him with raised eyebrows and the boy forced a grin. "It's definitely not lupus." Sam groaned at the attempted joke, and Danny gave the boy a punch on the arm, but the mood managed to lift.

"There is one more," Danny recalled, seating himself cross-legged on the floor. "I didn't really think much of it before, but there's this weird…chill now. Not just the 'normal' cold," he added as Sam opened her mouth. "It's colder than that. Just a section, almost like some snowball or something. It's about here," He pointed at his chest, just below the ribs and frowned slightly. "It didn't seem like much, but then…when that stupid ghost came, it started to spread. Almost purposefully, too, like it knew what it was supposed to do. I managed to keep it back, but the stupid thing won't go away now, and I know it's going to try and spread again…" The boy trailed off, frown deepening as his friends stared at him with wide eyes. "Okay, really? After all this, you think _that's _weird?"

"Well, it just adds to the factor," Tucker said with a shrug, glancing at the paper as Sam scribbled it down. "I mean, you're weird enough as it is," this earned him another hit to the shoulder "but with all these…symptoms added, I might just have to hand you over to the government."

"Right," Danny chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Because I'm half dead, right?" The other boy laughed and even Sam managed a grudging smile. There was a pause before the black-haired boy frowned once more, letting his elbows rest on his knees. "There is one thing that doesn't seem right though…I mean, these are just symptoms from the Portal blasting, aren't they? Symptoms aren't regular, they don't have any given purpose. They're just…there."

"Got it." They turned to Tucker as he tapped a few buttons on the device in his hand. "Symptoms; _An indication of disorder or disease, especially when experienced by an individual as a change from normal function, sensation, or appearance._" He glanced up, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose in the perfect imitation of a total nerd. "What? Definitions always help." Danny rolled his eyes before continuing.

"Right…it fits, at least. Normal functions, sensations, appearance…they've all changed. The only thing that seems strange is the fact that I don't really seem to have any disease, but we'll get to that later." He paused, glancing out the window briefly. "I'm guessing you guys remember the basement incident?" The boy chuckled, waving one hand as he realized the absurdity of the question. "Never mind, not exactly something you can forget easily…but right before that ghost came, did you notice anything odd?"

"Other than the fact that a _ghost _came into your house?" Sam questioned with a raised eyebrow. "There was a point when you went all weird. Tucker and I both noticed; you shivered like it was suddenly cold (or colder than usual) and went all stiff. I think I could see your breath for a second, which was weird. Even if you got a chill, it wasn't actually that cold…" She trailed off, violet eyes suddenly going wide. "Oh…So you think…maybe they're connected?"

"That's what I'm thinking," Danny muttered, one hand going to the back of his neck. "I mean, I didn't really pay much mind to it before, but happening twice…"

"Right, well if you're planning on letting me in on this revelation, let me know," Tucker cut in with a frown. "What am I missing?" His friends glanced at each other rather wearily before Danny ran one hand over his face.

"You remember the whole thing before the ghost showed up, right?" Tucker simply nodded, eyes narrowing slightly as he tried to make the connection. "It happened again today, didn't it? You didn't actually see it, but I think I said as much. Think about it, Tuck; what did they have in common?" There was a pause as the boy bit his lip, pondering the information. His eyes went wide as suddenly as Sam's had, and he clutching instinctively at the carpet.

"The ghost?" Tucker breathed. "He showed up both times, right afterwards…So you think it has something to do with him?" Danny shrugged, leaning against the wall with a sigh.

"I'm not sure…something with him, maybe with ghosts, or maybe it's just a coincidence. It seems a little too regular though. If it happens again without a ghost, I'll know it's just another weird symptom, but for now…" He frowned, eyes closing for a moment. "Symptoms are supposed to be random. They don't have order, they just happen because of whatever disorder or disease is causing them. If this thing has some pattern…it's not just a symptom. That doesn't necessarily include the rest of the stuff, but they're so closely connected, it just might. If they aren't side-effects of the blast…" The freshmen opened his eyes again, glancing between his two friends. "Then what's going on with me?" As the implications of this set in, they fell silent. Sam looked down at the list with a frown, her eyes narrowing as if willing the words to somehow change. Each sat in their own thoughts for a minute or so, the only sounds coming from the basement where Jack was busily working on some invention. It took a while for Danny to notice something slightly off, and when he did it seemed so slight that he didn't respond past a slight tensing, blue eyes moving from the floor to stare across the room. After a moment, they narrowed briefly before suddenly widening as he inhaled sharply. Sam and Tucker looked up with rather worried expressions, each half expecting to have to pull him out of the floor again. When nothing seemed immediately wrong, the other boy put one hand on Danny's shoulder, resisting the urge to draw back as he was reminded once again how cold his friend was.

"Danny? You alright, man?" There was no answer for a moment and Sam shifted slightly to get closer, her expression a mixture of confusion and fear. When the black-haired boy's eyes suddenly focused again, they seemed to match Sam's exactly, although both could see a hint of sudden determination as well.

"It's…trying to move again," he managed, eyes closing again. "I have to…just hang on, I can get it." Exchanging looks, the others retreated slightly to watch. They had seen when he had to keep his arms tangible or even visible, and it seemed extremely similar. This time, however, there was no noticeable outcome, except…Sam shot a look at Tucker, satisfied to see that his eyes were wide. So it wasn't just her seeing it. It took about a minute for the boy to relax again, and he was very slightly out of breath. Eyes opening, he looked at each of the others briefly before leaning back against the wall. "Right…what were we saying?"

"Oh, no way," Sam nearly growled, her arms crossing. "There is no way you're just passing that off like nothing. What the heck _was _that, Danny?" With a sigh, he rubbed his neck idly with one hand, glancing around.

"It was just that chill again. It was trying to move, but I got it back down again. Not a big deal."

"Not a-not a big _deal?_" the girl cried, eyebrows threatening to rise into her hair. "Danny, you were _glowing! _How is that not a big deal?" Blinking once, Danny turned to his other friend who gave a rather wary shrug, all but confirming the accusation.

"I was…what?" the black-haired boy breathed, glancing down at himself. He seemed normal enough, but Sam wasn't just one to make things up, especially now. "What do you mean I was glowing? People don't glow, it just…doesn't happen!"

"Yeah, well people don't fall through floors either," Tucker reminded helpfully, earning himself a glare. "You can't just go around shouting 'impossible' when stuff like this happens, man. Face it, we're way beyond the natural here. It wasn't like some neon glow, but…you were definitely giving off some light there. White, I think, it was hard to tell with the room being so bright." Danny blinked again, staring between them as if waiting for someone to yell "April Fools!" It proved to be futile, and he put his head in his hands with a groan.

"You've got to be joking," the boy muttered. "This is just wonderful, now I'm radioactive too? Just add a cape and get me flying and I'm some creepy superhero."

"This is getting way too regular," Sam stated, her hand clenching and crumpling the paper into a wrinkled wad. "First the thing with the stupid Box Ghost, and now right after you tell us about the 'snowball' chill thing, it starts up again? You didn't glow last time, did you?"

"I don't know!" Danny snapped, eyes squeezing shut. "I was paying more attention to the wad of ectoplasm in our basement than seeing what my skin was doing." He shook his head with a deep sigh, attempting to concentrate on keeping himself tangible. "I think…these things have triggers. It wasn't just talking about it, either, I had been thinking about the feeling. I was remembering the thing when it started again. But that means…" He looked up again, green eyes troubled. "That means these can't just be symptoms of something. You can't control symptoms without fixing whatever's wrong, and I've been working to keep myself from falling through the floor this entire time." There was a silence in which they could all hear a distinct crash from the basement followed by a loud shout of 'Fudge nuts!'

"So…" Tucker blinked, idly tapping at his PDA. "What's that mean? Where does it leave us?"

"I dunno, Tuck," Danny sighed. "Whatever it is…I don't think it's going away. I can control some of it now, but people are going to start noticing the eyes." He let his head fall back against the drywall with a dull thump, staring up at the overhead light. "The only thing that hasn't intensified is the hair, and that only showed up right after the blast…probably just residue or something, right?" At the hesitant shrugs, he let his eyes fall shut again. "This isn't normal. We've established that. But now…" He gave another sigh, forcing himself to keep his eyes shut as he voiced the next thought. "This is just scaring me…"

* * *

**Again, probably just filler. You guys will live, right? Gives you (and them) something to think about! I wanna get it posted before I get angry readers at my front door. -glances out window- I didn't really have more planned for this chapter, they're just slowly coming to the realization that they're not dealing with a disease here. It's a slow process, but it makes more sense to me that way. Don't worry, they will figure it out! … Eventually!**

**As always, I adore reviews! I adore favorites, I adore alerts…you guys are just wonderful all around. ^^ Thanks so much for putting up with me! I hope chapter 9 won't take very long, and hopefully it'll end up more interesting than the trio just putting pieces together.**

**If you caught the House reference (it should be easy, if you've seen the show) let me know. x3 Just a random little humor in there.  
**

**Many kudos and ecto-scones! (And a cup of tea to anyone who caught Waggy's House fan-girly-ness!)  
**

**~Waggy**


	9. An Empty Palette

**Hey there, my most epic audience! =3 Have I mentioned you guys are awesome lately? Because yah; you are. Originally I thought this story was going to be maybe four chapters, at the most. Now here it is at chapter 9, and I don't think it's getting near done yet. Been a little more than a week story-time, so I have three more weeks to mess with. HOORAY!**

**Again, I thank you so much for all the faves, alerts, reviews…I think I have two people that've put **_**me **_**on alert, which is an honor. I hope I don't disappoint!**

**Disclaimer; all things that obviously don't belong to me don't belong to me. Everything that belongs to me belongs to me. Kaythnx.

* * *

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_Normal…we _will _be normal today._

Danny sighed heavily, one hand running over his face. It earned him a pair of worried glances, but he ignored them and kept his eyes on the sidewalk ahead. The street was busier than usual, cars driving by on their way to whatever exciting things people got up to on Saturdays. There weren't many people on the sidewalks, however, something Danny was grateful for. He was able to simply think while walking without having to worry about crashing into some unsuspecting tourist. It would be far harder in the mall, though…that place was always swarming with people on the weekend. But no, he wouldn't be mulling over the past week while they were there. The entire point of the excursion was to be _normal_. Take a day off and actually get some relaxing in. Given his current condition, it wouldn't be an easy task, but he was determined.

It wasn't a long walk to the mall; that and the fact that public transportation reeked was the main reason they had chosen to travel by foot. It also gave the trio a chance to talk about any topic that wasn't related to Danny's strangeness. After Friday's realization, no one called the oddities symptoms anymore. That raised the question as to what exactly they were, but that was too complicated to ponder for now. He already had a slight headache…nothing a good hour of video games wouldn't cure, though.

As they stepped into the welcome air-conditioning of the building, Danny let his gaze sweep the area. There weren't too many people here today, probably due to reasonably nice weather. Good; this way if something did go weird, there was less of a chance of someone spotting it. _No, nothing's going to be weird, _the boy told himself stubbornly. _No phasing, no invisibility, and especially _no _ghosts. _He was praying the stupid ghost would leave him alone today. There was no telling where it was, but hopefully it had found happiness in some abandoned warehouse. The boy exhaled quickly, pausing for a moment to make sure he was keeping everything tangible, then shot a grin at both his friends and led the way down the large hall. It didn't last long though, however, as Tucker suddenly grabbed both of their arms and tugged them off to a large tech store.

"Really, Tuck?" Sam groaned, struggling to get control of her arm back. He simply nodded vigorously, only releasing his grip after dragging them inside.

"C'mon, they have _Doomed _here!" he exclaimed, his own arms flailing briefly before he nearly sprinted off down one of the aisles. The other two exchanged weary grins, shaking their heads as they trailed after the overly-excited geek.

Well, at least it was normal. Or as normal as they could get.

* * *

Danny was actually hopeful after the first hour. There had been a few times he had to pause and keep his legs from sinking through the escalator steps, but other than that things seemed to be as calm as he could have hoped for. True to their word, none of them had mentioned anything from the past week other than homework and the newest movies. There was only one instance when the boy had fallen slightly behind, staring at a display of scarves as if they held the answers to the world. Sam had been the first to notice, turning and giving him a rather concerned look.

"You, um…you alright, Danny?" she questioned a bit hesitantly, quickly assessing how many sets of eyes she may need to shield him from. He hadn't replied immediately, though the girl noticed a very slight tensing in his shoulders before he finally relaxed again, giving her a rather sheepish grin.

"I'm fine," he assured, hands going into his pockets as he strode to catch up to Tucker who was babbling on, oblivious to his lack of an audience. "I have it under control." Though she raised an eyebrow at this, Sam had decided to let the vague answer slide. There had been something going on, though, and despite his insistence, she was fairly certain he wasn't just 'fine'.

"Right," Sam said suddenly, a rather wicked grin coming across her face. "You boys have had your geeky fun, now it's _my _turn to pick a store." The boys exchanged brief looks of horror before finding themselves dragged, quite forcibly, into what Danny often called 'the Shadowlands'. Neither of them actually knew the name, as they never went in willingly, but it always felt rather like walking into a cave. Black and purple reigned, and they were forced to blink a few times to get accustomed to the strange lighting.

"Really, Sam?" Tucker moaned, glancing around warily. "It's…it's all clothes! There's not a computer in sight!" She rolled her eyes, pushing him toward their customary 'I don't know how I ended up in here' bench.

"Exactly. Just stay there and clutch at your PDA. I won't take too long. Especially since Danny's going to help, aren't you?" The boy's head whipped around, blue eyes wide, but he only managed a strangled "Uhh…" before being pulled away.

With a rather startled blink, Tucker stared after his friends for a moment before sinking lower onto the bench. "Riight…" he muttered, green eyes closing. "I'm not in a creepy store that looks ready to eat me. I'm in a modeling agency. A modeling agency that will _not _eat me."

A few minutes and many armfuls of clothes later, Danny still couldn't figure out how on earth he had gotten into this in the first place. Though he had attempted a few escapes, Sam's ever vigilant glare always brought him back again, the rather sulking look on his face growing each time. It seemed more like an hour had passed when he found himself leaning against one of the dressing room doors, a mound of clothes on the bench beside him.

"Oh would you quit pouting?" Sam's voice emanated from the stall to his right and the boy's blue eyes rolled. "It's not like I'm torturing you or anything."

"Physically, no," he countered, head tilting back slightly to stare at the distant ceiling. "But you do realize that if anyone from school sees me in this place, my reputation will plummet to rival Mikey's, right?" The girl snorted, her head poking up from behind the door.

"And who else comes in here?" Danny paused, allowing the question to roll around in his mind for a moment before grinning slightly.

"Touché. But really, you need my help with this why?"

"Because you're so good at handing me things!" Sam laughed at his rather indignant expression, disappearing into the stall again. "Throw me that purple shirt, would you?" Turning to the pile, the boy raised one eyebrow, hesitantly poking at it as if expecting the clothing to attack him.

"Which one? They're all purple!" There was a rather exasperated sigh and Sam looked over the door again, helpfully pointing at the general vicinity of the pile.

"That one. No, stupid the other one, to the right…there you go." As the garment was tossed in, Danny resumed his lean against one of the doors. The lady in this one had entered with even more clothes than Sam had, which was saying quite a bit. He felt it safe to stand there simply because it wouldn't take less than half a hour for her to finish. As it fell fairly silent, the boy allowed his mind to wander. He was impressed, really, how the day had gone so far. Nothing really abnormal and he hadn't sunk through any floors. A slight frown came across his face as he considered it. The phasing was…weird, to say the least. Actually, 'weird' didn't begin to cover it. It was one thing to have random limbs go invisible, but things still felt normal then. Falling through various walls, floors, and beds could be _felt_. It was like he faded slightly; everything was still there, but it seemed…somehow less.

Kind of like what he was doing now…

_Oh crud, no…nonono, not _now_!_ As he felt himself falling backwards, Danny's arms windmilled wildly for a moment in an attempt to regain his balance. It didn't help much, and he found himself suddenly facedown on the black carpet. Half of him appeared to still be outside of the stall, but he somehow managed to be mostly solid apart from the small section that was actually through the door._ Because this won't attract any weird looks…_Wincing, he lifted his head slightly, suddenly freezing as he was reminded that there was still an occupant in this particular room. The boy withheld a sigh of relief in noticing that she seemed to be concentrating on sweaters, and was therefore not anything to run screaming from. As one too-small sweater was halfway over the woman's head, she didn't appear to have noticed the sudden intruder, still trying to tug it down. The reprieve wouldn't last long though, he knew…

_C'mon, Fenton, think of something! _he silently berated himself. _Someone's going to see you and…_Ah…of course. Danny grimaced, extremely grateful that this store was so empty. The stupid…whatever they were had gotten him into this, they could get him out. But he had never actually tried it on purpose…He had always just tried to make it go away. _Then it's gotta be the opposite, you idiot, just do it!_ Blue eyes squeezed shut, half in concentration and half simply not wanting to see the woman's face when she got her head free.

Invisible…for once, he _wanted _to go invisible. Could he even do it with more than just an arm or leg at one time? It had never happened before, but he had been trying to keep it at bay every other time. _Concentrate!_

A grunt made Danny's eyes snap open and he looked warily up at his stall-mate, tensing in expectation of the screams. She was holding the sweater out in what seemed to be disgust before tossing it onto a pile to one side with a mutter of the factory making the sizes smaller. The boy couldn't hold back a sharp intake of breath as she turned around to face the door. She paused briefly, eyes flicking downward with a rather confused expression before scooping up one of the piles in her arms and plucking the key from a nearby hook. Danny rolled to one side as the woman moved to the door, using her elbow to push the handle down and slipping out with a call of "Stan! Stan, how much did you put on that card?"

There was relative silence after that, and Danny lay on the floor for a few more moments before climbing to his feet rather shakily. She had walked right past him…opened the door through him, really. He could tell he was fully tangible again, but why hadn't there been any screams or demanding questions? She should have seen him lying there…Eyes widening, he suddenly looked down at himself and nearly ran into a bench as he backed up with a startled yelp. True, it was the outcome he had been aiming for, but the reality of seeing his entire body - or rather, not seeing it at all, it was a bit extreme. It had worked?

"Danny?" Sam's voice made him jump again, spinning around quickly. She stood in the doorway, one arm laden with various clothes and a rather worried look on her face. "I heard you yell, what's…" The girl trailed off, violet eyes scanning the area before she sighed. "Danny Fenton, if you ran off, I swear…" The boy moved forward instinctively, rather wary of what she had planned if she thought he had finally escaped.

"N-no, I'm here!" he stammered, eyes widening even further as she jumped looking around frantically for the source of the voice. "I'm right here, seriously! I-" Danny cut off, unsure of how exactly to explain the situation. Sam seemed to have locked in on where he was standing, though her gaze was about a foot over his right shoulder.

"Oh…Oh my…" The goth swallowed, stepping forward rather uncertainly. Biting his lip, he hesitantly put out one hand and touched her shoulder, drawing back again as she jerked in surprise.

"Uh…yeah. Apparently I can actually _make _this stuff happen, I didn't realize…" He trailed off, one hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"How…how did you do that?" Sam whispered, her eyes wider than he had seen since the actual accident. "I mean, I've seen your arm vanish or something, but your entire body…?"

"Beats me," Danny muttered with a shrug, realizing a split second later that she couldn't see it. "It actually helped for once, though. I'll explain later," he added, cutting off her question. "We've got a slight problem now, though."

"Problem? What problem? You figured out how to control it, Danny, that's bound to be some progress!" She looked almost hopeful now, and the boy chuckled, glancing around quickly to make sure there were no shoppers around to see his friend talking to blank air.

"Yeah, well…I can't seem to go back now."

* * *

After rousing Tucker from what seemed to be a very detailed daydream, the three exited the store. It was rather cautiously, as Danny was trying his best not to bump into anyone who might question what they had hit. Sam was optimistic, which the boy was grateful for, as it helped him calm down a good deal.

"It's not that bad, Danny," she kept saying quietly. "You made this happen purposely, which means you _do _have control over these things. Once you figure out how to go back, it shouldn't be too hard to keep it under control from now on.""Yeah, the only issue is _getting _back!" he whispered, pausing to let a herd of elementary kids swarm by. "And it's wearing me out, staying like this. It actually takes effort, but I can't seem to turn it back around-" The boy cut off as he felt his shoulder nudge a passerby and he stepped back quickly with wide eyes. As the man paused, glancing back with a rather puzzled look, Tucker quickly came to the rescue. He gave a rather apologetic grin, calling "Sorry, sir! Zoned out for a minute!" As the boy turned back, he added in an undertone "You owe me for that, man. That was a teacher!" Danny glanced back, groaning softly as a second look proved Tucker right. Judging by the dusty brown hair and scar along his collarbone (he had never told them where it came from) Mr. Wolfe was taking a stroll through the mall.

"Great," the boy muttered, his hand going over his face. "He's already suspicious of me. This is totally going to help. Why can't they just lock teachers in the teacher's lounge after school?"

"He didn't see you, though," Sam pointed out, glancing around as if searching for him. "He just saw me and Tuck, it shouldn't raise any more suspicions about you. You could just be home, for all he knows." Danny shrugged, again realizing too late that it didn't do much good before starting off again.

"C'mon, let's find somewhere less crowded. I need to concentrate…"

It took another ten minutes or so for him to manage to return to relative normality. They ended up sitting in a dark hallway of the movie theater to avoid any strange looks. The plan worked out reasonably well, though none of them had seen the disheveled man in one corner until he began guffawing. Judging by the bottle hanging from one hand, the sudden appearance of a teenager was probably thought to be some hallucination, but the trio left quickly anyway. Danny let out a small breath of relief as they returned to the bustle of the main hall, rubbing his arms briefly. It seemed all concepts of forgetting the thing was now put off and Sam shot him a glance as they paused to peer into a store window.

"You alright, Danny?" she asked, prodding him in the side to get his attention. "You seem…tired all of a sudden." He gave a half-hearted grin, hands going into his pockets.

"I'm fine." He seemed to be saying that a lot recently…"Like I said, it tires me out for whatever reason. It just hadn't happened before because I was never _fully _invisible." The boy paused, then laughed with a shake of his head. "My gosh, are you hearing us? Let me tell you, if someone had told me two weeks ago that we'd be having a conversation about being fully invisible versus only limbs vanishing, I would've thought them crazier than Lancer during Spirit Week." The other two chuckled, all having seen their vice principal in his eccentric pep even before they came to Casper High.

"I'm telling you, it was a _ghost!_ No, sir, I'm not drunk, I swear..!" Eyes widening simultaneously, the three freshmen turned toward the voice, quickly spotting a man with an empty wooden palette speaking frantically into a cell phone. He bit his lip, apparently listening to the voice on the other end. "Look, Mr. Hurst, I had the shipment right here, it was on the palette. I had just gone in to get the paperwork and when I came back out this ghost - yes sir, I know they're not supposed to exist, but how else would a whole load of boxes float through the ceiling?" He raised his eyes briefly to said ceiling in obvious exasperation, tapping the back of the phone impatiently. "Yes…Yes, _through _the ceiling. I don't know how, he just went all pale, almost see-through, and the boxes followed him…yes sir, I understand. Wait, _my _paycheck-?" The man sighed, glaring down at the empty palette as if it had caused all this. "Yes sir. I'll file it when I get back. Thank you, sir." The phone snapped shut and was stuffed into a pocket quickly as the delivery man crouched to heave the palette onto one shoulder. He strode past the teenagers muttering under his breath. "Take it out of _my _paycheck…You better _beware, _you stupid ghost, if you take my shipment again…"

As he vanished into the crowd, the trio turned to each other with wide eyes. It was Sam who spoke up first, swallowing first and glancing around.

"Well…looks like we've found him."

"But why didn't Danny notice?" Tucker questioned with a rather puzzled frown. "I mean, he had that weird sense go off every other time, why not now?" The other boy shook his head, staring into the knick-knack store as he considered it.

"I think…I was too far away this time. I mean, if there are more ghosts (which would _totally _stink, mind), I can't just notice every single one in town, can I? I think they have to be close. It sounds like this guy had already left by the time we got out of the theater, so he's long gone by now with his new collection…" Danny trailed off, his expression going rather distant for a minute. Blue eyes widened suddenly and just as Tucker looked about to prod him back to the present he suddenly grabbed his friend's arms, dragging them into the deserted store. Though Sam managed to stifle a yelp, Tucker shouted an indignant "Hey!" before catching the cashier's glare and clamping his mouth shut. Attempting nonchalance, Danny shot the woman a grin, pulling his captives into one corner occupied solely by large-headed gnomes.

"Did you guys catch what that guy had said about the ghost going through the ceiling?" he asked in a low voice, glancing toward the door every few seconds. After taking a moment to realize it wasn't a rhetorical question, the others nodded rather warily.

"Something about it going almost see-through, I think?" Tucker muttered, rubbing his arm with a slight scowl. "You gotta warn me before you do that, man. Your hands aren't getting any warmer, you know."

"Focus here, Tuck!" Danny scolded, his hands automatically going into his pockets. He didn't even notice the cold anymore, really, often forgetting that everyone else could feel it still. "Yeah, he said it had faded before just floating through solid metal. That sound familiar to either of you?" They both gave him rather blank looks and the black-haired boy sighed. "Look…" Holding out one arm, he frowned slightly. If he could go fully invisible on purpose, he could make one arm go intangible…right? His eyes closed for a moment until the now-familiar feeling engulfed the limb and he looked down at it. There was one theory proven. Whether it was a good thing or not was yet to be determined. Turning back to the others, he put the hand through a shelf for emphasis. "Seeing it?"

"It's…faded," Sam breathed. "Nearly invisible really, but you can still see it…So what are you thinking?" Danny sighed softly, giving the customary mental push to get his arm solid once more.

"I'm thinking…I don't _want _to think it, really," he murmured. "It's not like it's just going to disappear if we ignore it though, we've seen that much." With another sigh, this one sounding rather resigned, he glanced behind them once before lowering his voice further. "These things aren't symptoms, they aren't side-effects…they're powers. And I swear Tuck, if you laugh I'll punch you," the boy added suddenly, poking his friend in the chest. Tucker threw his hands up in surrender, pointedly looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm not laughing! Not at all!"

"Right…" Danny shook his head, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Think about it, though; that ghost went through the ceiling, I fall through doors." He added something that sounded rather like 'dressing rooms' under his breath before continuing. "Everyone always says they can be invisible, and whatever that weird sudden chill thing is, it seems to sense ghosts. Am I the only one noticing the pattern here?" They glanced around quickly as the ringing door alerted them to the presence of another shopper and Tucker shivered slightly.

"Can we maybe discuss this somewhere else? I swear those gnomes are watching us…" Danny snorted slightly, though his face relaxed somewhat.

"Right…What do ya think, just head home?"

"My house is open," Tucker offered, quickly leading the way out of the store. He really hated gnomes…"Parents are out until six. We can crash there for a while." The others exchanged a glance, then shrugged.

"Sounds good to me," Sam conceded. "It'll be nice to not worry about the basement suddenly exploding." Danny laughed, eyes rolling.

"Try living there! Forget falling through the bed, I'm half expecting the entire second floor to collapse."

Alright, so it wasn't a normal day, per say…but then again, he was having a hard time sorting through everything to find what actually _was _normal.

* * *

_There is _something _going on…why can't I figure out what it is?_

Winston Wolfe sighed slightly as he shut his car door, taking a moment to sit and stare out the windshield before starting the engine. Danny was always with Sam and Tucker, even if they were shopping for cheese. So where was the boy today? The other two usually weren't seen alone…typical teenagers, always traveling in packs.

The entire thing was strange, he realized as he pulled out of the parking lot onto the highway. Come to think of it, Tucker hadn't even been close when he apparently bumped into him…no one had been. It wouldn't have been odd to have no one there, as someone may have just passed right by, but why would the boy apologize when it obviously wasn't him? Shaking his head, Winston sighed as he flipped on his turn signal. He would get some answers Monday…He _would _figure this thing out.

* * *

**Sooo…not a whole lot to comment on after this one, except tell you again how awesome you are! ^^ This chapter made me laugh and was fun to plan. Hope ya'll enjoyed it! It's currently my second longest, with chapter 3 just a few KBs ahead. X3**

**Anyway, you know what I'll say here; reviews are adored! Favorites are loved! Alerts are swooned for! ^^ Etcetera. Keep on being epic! And here, have some ecto-scones! -passes out-**

**~Waggy **


	10. Sodium

**Author's Note:**

**What's this? Chapter ten? Holy something, that's insane! O: I'm honestly shocked this thing went so far…I'm guessing there won't be lots and lots of chapters left to come. I can't guess how many, but we're on day fifteen starting in this one, so…that's halfway though the month, and there's bound to be another timeskip at some point. =3**

**I loved the last chapter, and I'm glad all you peoples liked it too. ^^ Hopefully this one will be just as good, though probably a little less funny. ANYWAY, onwards!**

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to mention this? Those things over there that aren't mine…-points- I don't own them. Those things that came from my brain…-points other way- They are mine. =3 Kaythnx!**

* * *

Another lab…what fun.

Danny suppressed a sigh as he leaned against the lab table, blue eyes rather unfocused. Mr. Wolfe was saying something he assumed they had learned last week, but the information was going right over his head. Apparently sodium was extremely reactive and all sorts of other things that might be useful if he were planning on making some dangerous explosive. Not many of the class was paying much attention to the teacher, but for once Mr. Wolfe didn't seem to mind. He was filling some ice chest with water, still informing them all how exactly valence electrons came into play…The freshman blinked suddenly, his focus straying from the man completely as he felt the familiar fading sensation seep into his arms. It took minimal effort this time to get it back to normal. The mental tug was easy to find and he was quickly able to turn his attention back to ignoring the lesson. After managing to purposefully turn himself invisible, it seemed almost natural to control the rest of his…powers.

_It does you no good avoiding it, Fenton, _Danny reminded himself as he hesitated to even think the word. _Like it or not, that's the only thing that seems to fit. They're just…weird powers, all because of that Portal._

"…tell me what will happen? Danny?"

The boy started suddenly, his attention quickly pulled back onto the teacher who was now looking at him expectantly. The ice chest was now sitting on one of the lab tables in the middle of the room with the majority of the class gathered around it. Of course, he _had _to be the one asked a question…

"What will happen…when what?" he asked finally, shifting to peer into the water. It didn't seem like anything special, but the class's air vents were on which always indicated something interesting. The teacher rolled his eyes slightly, gesturing to the container and barely containing a grin.

"When I add sodium into the water, of course. Any ideas?" Crud, was he supposed to know that? The boy wracked his mind quickly, only a few vaguely remembered notes surfacing.

"Well it'll…it'll probably react, won't it?" A few of the others chuckled, though no other brilliant suggestions were brought forward. He apparently wasn't the only one zoning out during class. Not for the first time he wished Sam shared this class with them. Tucker was on the other side of the room in an attempt to stay as far away from Kwan as possible, though he shot his friend a quick grin over the lab tables. Sam could easily take the attention off of himself when she saw he needed it…Tucker, on the other hand, avoided the spotlight like the plague (unless it was for a group of girls, of course).

"Well, it goes quite a ways past 'probably'," Mr. Wolfe told him with a chuckle. "Though you do seem to grasp the basic concept of things reacting with other things. Gather around, now - not that close, mind, you won't want to get in the way." As the front row backed up slightly, Danny managed to slip forward, watching the water curiously. The man used a pair of tweezers to pull a small sliver of silver metal from what seemed to be a pill bottle, backing up a step or so before reaching and letting the sodium fall into the cooler. There was a slight pause in which almost everyone leaned forward expectantly and the less-dense-than-water metal fizzled a bit. The word _anticlimactic _had just enough time to pass through the boy's head before a rather loud explosion sent the class leaping back with shouts. The discharged water landed around the cooler with rather weary _plops_, drowned out by the sudden chatter that broke out immediately. Mr. Wolfe stepped forward, one hand fastening the lid back onto the pill bottle again while he attempted to quiet the room again.

"Yes, yes, that _was _an explosion…Alright people, no need to decontaminate yourselves, it's just sodium.." He was grinning now, head shaking slightly as he watched the group babble amongst themselves for another minute or so before they quieted and turned their attention back to the teacher. _Progress, then. They're actually all listening for once…_The man blinked, green eyes scanning the crowd quickly. There seemed to be a head of black hair missing, which surprised him. Hadn't he just been here? "Anyone seen Daniel?" The murmur started up again as the teens glanced around with shrugs and Mr. Wolfe turned to Tucker automatically. If anyone knew the boy's whereabouts, it would be the resident techie. He seemed nervous, though, eyes darting around frantically for a moment before widening in what seemed to be comprehension.

"He said he was going…to his locker, sir," he said suddenly. "Right after the thing blew up. You usually don't mind, so…" The boy paused, his eyes now narrowing very slightly before adding "It shouldn't take too long."

"Alright, well…you and Daniel will fill in the questions together. Let him know when he comes in." Hiding his frown by turning back to his desk, he quickly scribbled the page number on the white board. "Only five through eight, people, it'll do you little good to waste your time filling out vocabulary until the bell rings." The bustle to fill stools drowned out any other sounds and after a moment the entire room was filled with papers turning and the occasional mutter. Tucker sat, picking up his book quickly and setting it upright, vanishing behind it as he so often did.

"You so owe me for that one, Danny," he whispered, glancing uneasily to the side. "First I take the blame for nearly running him over, now I gotta cover for you when you pull the invisible act?"

"Oh can it, Tuck," Danny's disembodied voice snapped quietly. "I didn't do it on purpose this time. That stupid explosion startled me, it was kind of…instinct." Tucker sighed slightly, automatically writing a heading on the blank paper in front of him.

"Well you have to come back soon…your locker isn't that far off, and he barely seemed to buy that excuse."

"I can't just suddenly appear in the middle of the room," Danny reminded him. "That would go over real well. 'Yeah, hi everyone, don't mind me. I've just got these creepy powers that let me turn invisible!'" His voice had risen to a rather loud whisper and Tucker glanced around quickly to check for eavesdroppers before giving his friend a quick punch.

"Shut up, dude, you're going to make me look crazy!"

"You always look crazy…" the other boy gasped, though his voice lowered again. "Did ya have to kill my ribs?"

"I was aiming for your shoulder, it's kind of hard to pinpoint when all I've got to work with is your complaining…" He cut off quickly as Mikey walked by, pointedly staring at the paper until the other freshman had passed. "You _do _need to get back though…can you, I dunno, just flip the thing off or something?"

"Well yeah, easy," Danny muttered, and his friend could easily imagine the rather uneasy expression, one hand rubbing the back of his neck as he always did. "Well, not _easy, _per say, but I can do it. It's just a matter of finding some way to do it so no one sees…" The invisible boy trailed off as Tucker suddenly grinned. "What?"

"Right, I've got an idea…just follow my lead and slip out the door when I open it, okay?" Ignoring the stammering confusion, he stood suddenly and crossed to the door, forcing Danny to hurry after him. Tucker paused for a moment before pushing the door open and stepping halfway into the hall. "Danny, would you _hurry up?_" he called down the empty corridor. "I don't want to do all the questions myself again!" Glancing to the side with slightly raised eyebrows, the boy jerked his head once in the general direction of 'out'. It took a moment for his friend to understand and he breathed a soft "Brilliant," once he did, carefully sliding out the gap into the quiet hall.

"I'm coming!" he replied, grinning at the techie though he realized a moment afterwards that he still couldn't be seen. "Jeeze Tuck, don't go having a fit…" Danny let his eyes close briefly as he sought for the push needed to revert back to normal. It seemed almost like a muscle that he certainly hadn't had before, just needing a slight flex in either direction to work. It only took a moment to find and Tucker blinked once as the other boy suddenly appeared. Blue eyes glancing down at himself quickly, he strode back into the room making all attempts to look like nothing strange had occurred. Tucker pulled the door shut, a barely concealed smirk on his face and pulled the other boy to the table.

"You _are _helping me on this," he told him, pushing the book over slightly. In an undertone, leaning over the paper he added "Just because you have superpowers or something doesn't mean you can skip out on homework." Danny rolled his eyes, elbow resting on the hard tabletop as he glanced over the first question.

"Yeah, because I'm totally doing this all on purpose."

* * *

The bell ringing was a welcome sound for everyone, including Winston Wolfe who set down his pen with a rather weary sigh. As the class bustled out the door, most pausing to shove their work into the designated box, he stood and glanced over the crowd. The rest of the period had proceeded with little incident; the sodium demonstration had gotten their attention and actually given them something to connect the lesson to. Apparently blowing things up was a fail-safe way of teaching…at least for this subject.

"No homework tonight," he reminded them as they passed. "Unless you wasted the majority of the hour, in which case I expect that assignment first thing tomorrow." As usual, Danny and Tucker were the last ones to pack up. They never followed the crowd, both figuratively and literally, though recently it seemed the trio was taking every effort to avoid their peers. As the boys stood, he stepped in their path with one hand slightly raised. "Could I have a moment, Daniel?" The freshman stiffened slightly, but as Tucker sent him a rather worried glance he simply waved his friend on.

"Go ahead…tell Sam I'll be there in a bit." He added something in an undertone that Winston didn't catch. _Not, _he reminded himself. _like it's probably any of my business anyway. _Tucker nodded, slipping out the door quickly as if eager to be out of the situation.

"It shouldn't take too long," the teacher assured him, turning back to his desk and settling himself into the chair. "Sit, please." Danny followed him, though he remained standing with his arms crossed. Glancing him over quickly, Winston suppressed a frown. He had been so energetic at the beginning of the year…lazy, like all freshmen, but the boy had been willing to learn. Now his expression held a mixture of exhaustion and grim stubbornness. He almost looked like he were in front of a judge waiting for some life sentence. With a sigh, the man rested his chin on his hands before speaking. "I know I spoke to you…was it Thursday?"

"Friday." The response was short, bordering on impatience.

"Yes, right…I apologize, Danny, for keeping you like this, but there are some things that I must get answers for eventually." He paused, a small grin appearing on his face. "I haven't booby-trapped the chair, you know." The boy scoffed softly at the attempted humor, but he plopped himself unceremoniously into the seat, arms still stubbornly crossed. "See? I'm not trying to kill you. Now, first…" Surveying him over his fingertips, the smile slipped away again. "You do realize that if you're sick, you really should stay home, correct?" Danny blinked once, his stone-hard expression turning to one of slight confusion.

"Sick? I'm not sick, Mr. Wolfe, why would I stay home?"

"Were you sick this weekend, then?" The student shook his head, still looking bemused. Winston sighed softly before continuing. "It just seemed rather strange…I was in the mall on Saturday, you see, and I ran into Mr. Foley…literally, really. Ms. Manson was with him, but it seemed strange to me that you weren't. You three appear to be inseparable. Was it family issues that kept you at home, then?" Danny's blue eyes had widened with barely contained apprehension, a fact the man stored carefully away.

"I - uh, no sir, I just…" He rubbed his neck with one hand, something nearly everyone had labeled as the boy's trademark tic. "I just didn't want to go, is all. I was tired that day, spent some time at home…" Trailing off he took to examining his hands intently. Winston let the silence stretch for a moment in case the boy suddenly regained his voice before shrugging.

"Fair enough." Danny looked up, eyes wide and warily hopeful. _He's surprised I'm buying the story…_"Second then; how did you manage to slip out of the room today with no one but Tucker noticing? I wasn't aware you had that much stealth. To be honest, I didn't think you had any stealth at all, considering the rate at which I seem to be losing beakers." That earned a slight wince and blue eyes fell again, watching the tile floor. "It's an impressive feat, let me tell you, but if I'm not mistaken you were in the front of the group when I started." The freshman bit his lip, still keeping his gaze down.

"Yeah, I uh…surprised myself. I had to get a book, like Tuck said. I didn't think you'd mind, since you usually let us go out as long as we can get the assignment and stuff…"

"You needed a book?" He nodded the affirmative and Winston raised one eyebrow. "Then why didn't you have one when you came back?" Danny's eyes widened and his mouth gaped for a moment before managing to push the words out.

"I had…I had left it at home," he finally stammered. "I just ended up using Tuck's anyway." The teacher frowned slightly, watching the boy for a moment as he tapped at the armrest of the chair.

"I see…" With a slight sigh, he leaned back in his chair again. "Well, I suppose you can go, then. I'm sure your friends are waiting and we don't want to see Samantha impatient." Danny let out a quiet sigh of what seemed to be relief, standing quickly.

"Thank you, sir. I'll see you tomorrow."

"One more thing, actually, Daniel," Winston interjected as the student reached the door. The apprehension was apparent on his face as Danny turned, hand outstretched.

"Yeah..?" The man leaned forward once again with his elbows on his desk.

"I'm sure everyone your age tires of hearing this…but it's important you know that I would be _honored _to help in anyway I can. If there's anything wrong, Danny, anything I can do…" The hesitation was short, but prominent enough to note. He seemed to almost be considering the words, something no other student had actually before and a very small bubble of optimism flared. It was short lived, however, as Danny shook his head wearily.

"Thank you, Mr. Wolfe, but…I don't think there's anything you could do. Have a good lunch." The door closed with a sharp click leaving Winston staring at it blankly. _So close…_

Standing, he began pacing the length of the room restlessly. Arms clasped behind his back (old habits, especially marching ones, die hard) he watched the floor pass beneath him as thoughts ran through his head unrestrained. The boy had all but admitted there was _something _wrong. It hadn't been another 'I'm fine', which was a considerable difference from last week. What had he said? _I don't think there's anything you could do…_Well of course he couldn't do anything, not if he didn't know what it was. There had to be someone who could give him more information on it, someone who might know what was going on…Sam and Tucker were obviously in on the whole thing, but there was no way he could get them to tell him their friend's secrets…

_There could be a reason they're secrets, _a voice reminded him. _Don't you think you're being a little too nosey with this? _Winston sighed, striding back to his desk and sitting once more.

"Danny's partly my responsibility," he muttered, his fingers tapping the wooden surface. "I can't just drop it when I know there's something wrong…But he's certainly not going to tell me anything." There had to be someone…

The answer seemed obvious enough to be stupid. Sitting up suddenly, the teacher barely paused before pulling open a drawer and tugging out a file that had 'Fourth hour' scrawled across it. With an air of determination he opened the folder and began flipping through its pages quickly. "F, f…there it is." The phone was already to his ear, one finger hovering over the first button before he paused again. This method always seemed so…extreme. It usually wasn't the option he would've chosen, but…"Desperate times, I suppose." As the number was punched in Winston leaned back again, turning to the window on the side of the room. He could actually see Danny outside, simply walking through the front lawn with his friends on either side. They appeared to be in deep conversation and he wished, not for the first time, that super-hearing was possible. The third ring was cut short and he brought his attention back quickly.

"Hello, Madeline? This is Winston Wolfe, I'm Danny's Chemistry teacher…no, ma'am, he's not in trouble, but there are a few things I'd like to discuss with you…"

* * *

Sam had already gone home when the two boys were climbing off the bus, deep in some conversation about levels in _Doomed_. As they had every intention of doing absolutely nothing productive, the girl had decided it would be better for everyone's health if she skipped it.

"I just managed to get the Cloak of Vanishing," Tucker informed his friend, arms waving for emphasis. "Granted, it doesn't do a whole lot later on. One person told me all of the monsters in level five can see right through it, but it's pretty handy now." He glanced over at Danny who appeared to be watching the progress of a distant bird and gave him a sharp poke. "You even listening, man?"

"Wha..? Oh, right, yeah. I haven't found it yet, I guess it moves for different people." A smirk appeared suddenly on the boy's face and he repressed a laugh. "I don't need it though, do I? I can just," He snapped his fingers once and shrugged. "Poof, can't I?" Tucker chuckled, tugging his bag further up his shoulders.

"Right, you've got a superpower cheat code. I'm telling' ya Danny, the whole superhero thing has its props! You could be some…masked wonder-boy or something."

"One problem with that theory," Danny pointed out. "I'm pretty sure it's in the superhero rulebook that you have to fly. Seriously, what superhero with any reputation _doesn't _fly?"

"Well Spiderman _technically _didn't," his friend said with a shrug. "But I guess the whole swinging from buildings thing could count." Pausing to consider it for a moment, he shrugged. "Guess you've got me there. Why can't you, though? I mean, from what your folks say all ghosts can fly. It's one of the only things they have in common." Danny frowned, pausing at corner of the street to look over at the other boy rather warily.

"Tuck, I'm _not _a ghost," he stated rather bluntly. "Just because I have these…freaky powers it doesn't automatically make me some spirit or something." Tucker shrugged rather nonchalantly as he strode past.

"Yeah, I guess…Hey, have you got to that stupid ogre at the end of the bridge?"

The conversation reverted right away back to various monsters and cheat codes, seeming relatively normal until they reached the house. Danny was always the first to open the door, considering the liability that sometimes came with such a simple act. It proved to be harmless today, but his friend collided with the boy as he stopped with one foot still on the step. Muttering softly, Tucker ducked under the outstretched arm and rolled his eyes. "Jeeze Danny, warn a guy when you decide to freeze, would ya?" The other teen didn't seem to hear the accusation, however, blue eyes locked on the couch in the living room.

"Mr-Mr. Wolfe?" he finally stammered, staring between the teacher and his parents. "What are you doing here?" Looking up as he was addressed, Winston managed a slight smile. The scar along his collarbone stood out more than it did at school, as he had abandoned his usual formal jacket for a slightly looser shirt. Danny wondered vaguely, as he did on occasion, where it had come from. It didn't seem to be an easily broached topic, however.

"Your parents and I were just having a short talk," he said easily, glancing at Tucker as the other boy gawked. "Actually, now that you're home I think you could contribute some…Would Tucker burn down the house if left to his own devices for a few minutes?"

"I, erm…no, I guess not…Just lemme drop my stuff in my room real quick." Danny shoved the door shut with one foot, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him upstairs. Tucker yelped briefly before following, both boys aware of the three sets of eyes watching them as they went. The soft murmur of voices was cut off as the door to Danny's room closed with a soft snap and the techie pulled his arm free, rubbing where it had been held.

"Still not any warmer!" he chided, falling onto the bed as he usually did. "And there is something _seriously _wrong with this picture. What the heck is a teacher doing in your _house_? I don't think they should be allowed out of the school, personally…"

"He's suspicious," the freshman muttered, swinging his backpack onto a nearby chair. "He knows something's up, and he's one of the few adults that's stubborn enough to figure it out. I didn't think he would actually bring my parents into this though…"

"So what, you gonna tell them about it?" Blue eyes widened as Danny turned to him with a disbelieving look.

"_Tell them?_" he repeated. "Tuck, they'd have me decontaminated in a second. They'd do tests to find out what happened, try and duplicate it…I can't tell them!" One hand going to the back of his neck nervously he glanced at the floor as if pondering the fact that he could easily sink through it. "I mean…maybe they could fix this, but if they can't…It would just be even worse letting them know." Tucker raised both hands in defeat, shrugging.

"Whatever man, your choice…They're going to get even more suspicious if you take too long getting down there though. I can keep myself amused for a while." He smirked as Danny raised one eyebrow. "_Without _setting anything on fire this time, I promise." That managed to get a chuckle out of his friend and the boy slipped back into the hallway, pausing at the landing before trudging down the stairs again. The three adults looked up as he entered and he stopped a few feet away, automatically pushing black hair out of his eyes.

"Right, so…" He sat uneasily in the chair furthest from his teacher, blue eyes pointedly fixed on his parents. "What's this about?" Mr. Wolfe sighed slightly, resting his elbows on his legs.

"To be honest, Daniel, we're rather concerned." Trust the man to get right to the point. "You seem to have…changed recently. It seems to be stress, but I want to know _what _it's from."

"I'm fine!" the boy said automatically, one hand going to his neck for the second time in less than five minutes. "It's just…school, ya know?"

"We'd like to believe that, Danny," his mother spoke up, red goggles reflecting the light. "But your father and I have noticed it as well…You've been oddly distant recently. It wasn't nearly this bad at the beginning of the year. What happened?" The teen blinked, now glancing between the three rather warily.

"I-nothing's wrong, honest, it's just…"

"And there it is!" Jack spoke up now, his usual grin absent as he surveyed his son closely. It must be serious if _he _wasn't ranting about ghosts or wandering off looking for fudge. "You never used to stammer like that, Danny, it just started recently. It's like you're hiding something."

"Look, seriously, I'm _fine-_"

"I know that's not true." Black hair fell stubbornly into his eyes again as Danny turned to Mr. Wolfe quickly. "You spoke with me before lunch today, if you remember. It wasn't just a 'fine' then. You simply said there wasn't anything I could do to help." The man gestured vaguely at the room and those assembled in it as he went on. "I might not be able to, but your parents can; only, however, if we know what's going on." Great…since when were teachers that attentive? The boy looked down at his sneakers, hands clenched on the side of the chair as he fought to keep himself visible. Despite the instinct he seemed to have suddenly developed, nothing would be fixed if he vanished now. He had to tell them _something_…but how much could he risk without giving it all away?

"What would happen," he muttered finally, still avoiding any eye contact. "If someone were…shocked by some ghost technology?" Mr. Wolfe, of course, was silent with this question, but his parents glanced at each other rather warily.

"I don't see how this is relevant-"

"Just…just answer it, please." Maddie sighed slightly, looking at the door as she considered the question.

"It would depend on which piece of equipment it was, I think," the woman mused. "Something like the Fenton Weasel wouldn't do much more than make your hair stand on end. Some of the other things, though…"

"What about…" Danny swallowed once as his mother trailed off, looking up. "What about the Portal?" The two adults exchanged looks again before Jack shrugged almost nonchalantly.

"We haven't done much testing in that area yet, as it just started working two weeks back…but looking at the energy levels when the Portal powers up…" He paused, automatically glancing toward the lab door. "If someone were standing outside of it and it got shocked, it might be enough to knock them out."

He was almost afraid to ask the question. "And if they were inside?" The orange-jump suited man blinked once.

"Well, the power from that machine is the strongest inside, of course." He leaned back into the couch, arms crossing thoughtfully. "Honestly, I doubt they'd survive."

* * *

**Not really a cliffhanger, but -shrug- slightly suspenseful. =3 This is my longest chapter yet! Hooray!**

**Anyway, not a whole lot to say about this one. Hope everyone has an epic Thanksgiving! Eat lots of food, sit around a lot and don't do anything strenuous! X3**

**You guys are awesome readers! All reviews are adored! Until next time;**

**~Waggy**


	11. A Stroll in the Park

**Author's Note:**

**And the cycle continues! =3 I finished the House crossover chapter, so I move on to this one. I'll apologize now for it taking a little while. I have three stories I'm working on, and mid-terms are this week. Christmas break should give me some free-time though!**

**(Must apologize to all you epic peoples; I keep forgetting I have a beta-reader now, so I'll post the chapter and then be all 'owait'. x3 Dragon is epic, however, and got this one all fixed up. Nothing big had changed, really; just the wording and punctuation and such. I shall remember next time, though, so you don't have to read the less-epic unedited version!)  
**

**Without further ado, the DISCLAIMER:**

**Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me. If he did, do you really think it would be over? … And there would be more Dan. Because Dan rocks. (However, Mr. Wolfe, **_**does **_**belong to me. ^^ He's cool like that.)

* * *

**

"_Well, the power from that machine is the strongest inside, of course." He leaned back into the couch, arms crossing thoughtfully. "Honestly, I doubt they'd survive."_

A rather thick silence fell after that statement and Danny seemed to have frozen. Blue eyes stared at the large, jumpsuit-wearing man for a while before Maddie spoke again.

"You know some of our inventions can be…hazardous," she said, glancing once at the teacher still sitting across the room in silence. "What does that have to do with this?" Now was the time to tread carefully. How much could he tell them…?

"I've been…nervous," he began warily. "I didn't want to tell you guys earlier, because I knew you'd be all worried…" The boy paused, one hand going to the back of his neck as he attempted to find the right words. "After you tried to start the Portal that first time, Sam, Tucker and I stuck around for a while. You know Tucker, he's really into anything with wires." Danny glanced up at Mr. Wolfe once, who was listening intently, green eyes locked on his student. "I'm - I'm not all that sure what exactly happened, but the thing turned on when I was…near it. Some of the electricity must have managed to jump out or something…" He paused again, looking down at the floor. _How many more times will I have to blatantly lie before this is over?_ The boy glanced up quickly, catching sight of his parent's expressions and hurrying on. "It wasn't all that bad, really, but I didn't know if it would have any side-effects because of the ectoplasm you guys use." Jack seemed to shake off the fact that his son had been practically electrocuted by his machine, concentrating instead on what he did best, ranting about said machines to anyone who would listen.

"Ectoplasm doesn't affect humans," he stated matter-of-factly. "Your mother and I have worked around it for years, and nothing major has happened because of it. It can be used to make weapons that harm ghosts, but most of them only cover a person in goo if they get in the line of fire. It's a strange substance, really, and very difficult to get a hold of-"

"What your father's trying to say," Maddie cut in, automatically pulling a cookie from the pouch at her belt. Jack fell silent as he attacked the baked good with a somewhat scary intensity, "is there shouldn't be any lasting damage from anything in the lab. Some of them might give a nasty shock, but nothing permanent." She frowned slightly, peering at Danny closely for a moment. "Is that the only reason you've been so distant, then?"

"Uh, yeah." He shot a glance toward the staircase, itching to fill Tucker - and Sam, once he could call her - in on the story so there wouldn't be three versions of it floating around. "I don't know much about the stuff, so it was a bit…" Trailing off, he shrugged and turned to the silent Mr. Wolfe. "Look, I'm sorry if I worried you, but honestly, I'm fine. Freshman year, you know? Everything is suddenly exploding in my face, including the equipment at home." There was a short silence, Danny was randomly thankful he wasn't hooked up to some lie-detector. He had never kept something this big from his parents, and the boy wasn't all that keen to start now. For some reason, it just didn't seem right to tell them. He was alright with Mr. Wolfe not knowing, of course, he was a teacher Danny only saw fourth hour. He could continue to be suspicious if he wanted; nothing would come of it. But his parents…

They saw him everyday, for hours. They knew every random habit he had and some_ he _didn't even know he had. How would he be able to keep this thing a secret? Did he even _want _to keep it a secret…?

"I'm fine, trust me," he repeated, no longer sure who he was assuring. "Just nerves." As he glanced over at Mr. Wolfe, the teacher caught his eyes and one eyebrow rose questioningly. Danny managed a brief shrug and the man finally blinked, getting to his feet with a slight sigh.

"If you're sure," he said, stretching and letting his gaze sweep once around the room. The boy's eyes were once again drawn to the scar on his teacher's collarbone and he resisted the urge to ask where it was from. Mr. Wolfe _had _been a Marine, after all, and there were plenty of opportunities to injure oneself in that field. "I better get home. There's a stack of papers just begging to be graded." With a good-natured grimace, he swung his coat over one shoulder and strode to the door. "Remember Daniel, we have a practical on Wednesday." The man gave a short wave and the room fell silent for a moment after the door closed behind him. Danny managed to pull his eyes back to his parents and offered a rather wary grin.

"Am I done then?"

"I suppose," Maddie said with a shrug. "Just make sure you let us know if you need anything –"

"Yeah, I will, thanks mom." He nearly leapt to his feet, striding to the stairs. "I gotta make sure Tucker hasn't destroyed my room yet." The two adults watched him rather closely as he took the steps two at a time. They weren't completely satisfied, but maybe the story would buy him some time before they questioned him again…Tucker looked up with a start as he slipped into the room, door snapping shut.

"What was all that about?" the other boy inquired. "I couldn't hear much through the walls…"

"We need Sam," Danny cut in. "Is she at home?"

"How should I know, man? You're the one who memorized her schedule." He grinned at the mutinous look his friend gave him and shrugged. "I think she said she was planning on going home. She just didn't want to revel in the brilliance that is video games."

"We need to hold off on the games, unfortunately," he muttered. "Think you can find some excuse to meet at the park? I don't want to risk my parents hearing…" Tucker nodded, his usual grin slipping slightly.

"Yeah, easy. Just say we need fresh air or something. Works every time." The freshman's arms crossed. "What's going on, Danny? You know things are weird when a teacher comes to your house, but Mr. Wolfe is all…" He waved his hands rather vaguely. "Perceptive, or whatever. Did he find something out?"

"Not yet…" One hand went to the back of his neck as he looked out the window. "Judging by what I've seen of him so far though, he might soon if we don't get everything straight." He grimaced before sighing and strode back to the door. There was a cordless phone in the hall, so unless his parents had come up to the second floor, he could get it without them questioning him again. "If we can get out now, there should be enough time to get back and finish Lancer's assignment."

"Man, I think you're the only one who _hasn't _finished that by now…" Danny shot him a half-hearted glare.

"I've had a few other things on my mind, if you haven't noticed."

* * *

"And they believed it?"

"Always the surprised tone…" Danny raised one eyebrow at his friend, hands stuffed into his pockets as the trio wandered rather aimlessly through the park. "I can be convincing, you know!"

"Yeah, sure, if you're conning a squirrel or something," Tucker laughed, expertly dodging the smack aimed at his head. "Your folks aren't too hard, but Mr. Wolfe? That guy can spot an excuse in a haystack full of needles…" He paused, frowning suddenly. "Wait, no…"

"Stop straining yourself, Tuck, I can see smoke." Sam rolled her eyes slightly at the indignant expression sent her way. "The story's easy enough, Danny, but are you sure you want to stick with it? I mean, maybe your parents could do something, reverse the side-effects…"

"How do you suggest I tell them?" The black-haired boy stopped at a rather large tree, sinking to the grass with a sigh. "I mean, not only would that be admitting we were messing around with the equipment, I know they'd try all these…tests before they did anything else. People aren't supposed to be affected by ectoplasm, remember? I've somehow got these…these powers, or whatever they are, and they'd want to see what caused it, maybe even try to duplicate it." As the others sat down with him, Danny clutched at his hair with one hand. "Humans aren't supposed to have ghost powers," he reminded them. "I shouldn't be able to do all this, but I can't make it _stop!_"

"But you're getting better," the girl put in rather hesitantly. "I mean, I haven't seen your eyes change in a few days. Maybe that means they're going away or something."

"They're not going away, I'm just…controlling them better." He sighed, holding up one hand for them to see. Blue eyes shut for a moment as he concentrated, opening again only once the hand had vanished. "I fell through my bed again last night. Sometimes I can keep them under control, but sometimes I slip. I hardly realize it most of the time." His hand appeared again and he lowered it, gaze going distant. There was silence for a moment before Tucker spoke up again.

"So can you actually…ya know, control _all _of them?" Danny snorted, looking back up.

"If by all you mean both. It's only two, the invisibility and the phasing. But yeah, I can actually manage both of them on purpose now, whatever that means. They've come in handy a total of one time." He glared at his hand as if it had been the cause of everything and then sighed. "Stupid Portal…"

"There's still a chance it'll just…go away on its own," Sam put in rather hopefully. "It could be one of those things that get worse before it can get better. If you can control them, maybe that means everything will just go back to normal." The boy shrugged, still watching the ground.

"Maybe." He sounded far from convinced. "But what if it doesn't go away? What if I'm stuck like this, constantly falling through floors and vanishing in the middle of school?" Light blue eyes met the dark violet ones rather pleadingly. "I can't handle this much longer, Sam. I'm barely sleeping, I keep jumping if a cat meows and my grades have already taken a blow…"

"Yeah, your famous B- average is slipping!"

"Not the time, Tuck."

"Sorry…"

Danny glanced once up at the sky before sighing. "Not to mention I keep looking for that stupid Box Ghost every time I feel a breeze…And come on," he gestured at the general area, attempting to indicate their previous conversation, "we just _organized _a lie. That's all kinds of wrong." The girl leaned forward slightly, one hand going to his shoulder. As usual, it felt warmer than it should, but he ignored it.

"It's going to work out, Danny," she told him, her voice softer than he had probably ever heard it. "Life's guaranteed to be weird sometimes, especially when your parents are paranormal experts…but things will work out." He avoided eye contact, staring instead at roots of the tree behind his friend's face.

"And what if it doesn't?" he murmured. Before either could reply, he shrugged off Sam's hand and pushed himself to his feet. "Look, why don't you guys head home? My parents aren't as strict with curfew or anything, but I know Sam's might freak out if she's not back by sundown."

"So what?" Arms crossing, she stood as well and followed the boy as he began walking off down the path again. It took Tucker a moment to realize he was being deserted and the techie leapt to his feet, jogging a few paces to catch up. Danny kept his eyes down, knowing the expressions he would see if he looked at his friends. He couldn't sit still for very long anymore. It felt too…vulnerable. Just like the instinct to vanish that had suddenly appeared, he felt like any spot he sat in too long could potentially be attacked.

_By what, Fenton? _The boy berated himself. _What are you so paranoid about?_

"Danny?" He started slightly, glancing up for a moment. "Are you even trying to listen?" That brought a slight grin and he shrugged.

"Not really, to be perfectly honest." The boy folded his arms across his chest as Sam gave him a grudging smile.

"You're impossible sometimes, Fenton," she muttered. "Making me repeat myself all the time." He just rolled his eyes. Sam stopped suddenly, blocking his path. "Look Danny, you aren't going to just slip away from us because of all this. It's like you're expecting us to just leave after we see a few weird things." Danny was silent, watching a point slightly above her shoulder. How could she always find the problem so quickly…? As Tucker caught up, she gave him a far-from-subtle nudge and he nodded frantically, shooting the girl a glare.

"We're you're friends, man," he stated. "I mean, just because you can walk through a wall - which is totally cool, by the way - that doesn't mean we'll walk off. And mind you," he jabbed one finger at Danny's chest, "you're not just pushing us away. I _do _know where you live and I _will _climb through a window if necessary." The raven-haired freshman grinned reluctantly.

"I know, guys…though it wouldn't work, Tuck, I got a lock for my window after the last time." Tucker pouted slightly as Danny went on. "I'm not trying to run off or anything, I just…" He trailed off and sighed softly. "It's confusing, you know? High school is bad enough as it is, and now I have to deal with this?" They fell silent for a moment, the sun slowly sinking toward the horizon. After a while, Sam sighed, glancing at her watch.

"My parents _will _freak out," she muttered. "Sorry guys, but I need to head back." She hesitated slightly before giving a wave and turning back toward the street. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." It was quiet again as the girl strode down the path until Tucker gave a shrug.

"I guess that's my cue to go too." He pulled his backpack further onto his shoulders and turned green eyes to his friend. "You'll be alright getting home?" Danny managed a chuckle.

"I'm not going to fall into the sewer," he said. "Won't make that mistake twice." Tucker grinned, eyes going distant as he recalled the event.

"Yeah, that was a good time…give me a call if you die, alright?"

"Deal."

* * *

After the other two had left, Danny backtracked and sat down underneath the tree once more. His curfew was still two hours off, and he didn't like the idea of facing his parents before he had to. It wasn't like this town had a high crime rate…or much of a crime rate at all, really.

His knees pulled up to his chest, the boy ran one hand through black hair with a sigh. This was the first time in a while he actually had time to think things through, but his mind was racing too quickly to make much progress. What was he supposed to do with these powers, just ignore them? Could he keep them under control to keep everything a secret? What would happen if someone _did _find out? He groaned letting his head fall onto his knees. Sam and Tucker didn't seem to think it was a big deal…

_They're not the ones falling through their beds every night, _Danny muttered silently. _They're not the ones who have to feel their limbs vanish and figure out how to get them back. _Granted, they didn't really vanish, they just went invisible…but it was essentially the same thing.

He raised his hand again, watching as it disappeared for the second time that night. It was getting a little too easy for his liking. Letting it fade back, the boy blinked once before shifting his focus slightly and blue eyes shut. The strange fading feeling seeped into the limb and as he placed it on the tree root, it sank through up to the wrist.

_Two down…_What other weirdness was there? That chill that showed up every time they saw the ghost didn't seem to be controllable at all. It just happened, whether he wanted it to or not. He knew he couldn't make his eyes change at will, and he currently had a regular pulse…that just left the spreading cold. With a frown, he opened his eyes again, letting his hand become solid - after pulling it out of the root, of course. It was still there; a cold lump sitting in his chest like someone had stuck a snowball there. If he could make it go down when it tried to move, did that mean he could _make _it move as well? What would happen if he let it? Sam had freaked out last time it started…

"_Not a-not a big _deal_?" "Danny, you were _glowing_! How is that not a big deal?"_

He had been glowing? What could that even be _from_? Had it just been a trick of the light, or was it another sort of power? His gaze raked the area carefully, searching for anyone who might wander too close. He could always go invisible, but it would be easier if he didn't have to dodge people. This section of the park was deserted and he sighed. There was only one way for sure to figure out what the whole glowing thing was, even if he didn't like it.

"Here goes everything…"

The push needed wasn't hard to find. It seemed almost natural, really. Danny hesitated a moment before tensing. The cold didn't actually need to be moved, he could tell it would react immediately on its own. Apparently it just needed will power to be pushed back. After another set of doubts raced across his mind, he gave the chill in his chest a tentative mental prod and then nearly yelped as it began to spread. He shut his eyes - again - and resisted the urge to pull back. A sudden flash made him squint, the white light stunning even filtered by his eyelids. _Lightning? Is it going to rain or something? _It took a while to fade, only vanishing once the cold had reached each end of his body. It didn't linger. The movement stopped as soon as it had started and the first thing Danny noticed was the fact that the temperature seemed to have dropped several degrees. He waited another moment before letting his eyes open, glancing around. Nothing seemed amiss…the weather still looked the same, but he was colder now than he had been since the Portal accident. Checking himself mentally, the boy noticed that the mass of cold seemed to have vanished, replaced by a section of warmth. Other than that, however, nothing really seemed different.

"Anticlimactic," he muttered. "So what, I can change my body temperature?" One hand went to the back of his neck as he sighed, eyes turning to the sky. The sun had set a while ago, but it still seemed lighter than usual. Rather odd, considering the street lights were too far off to make a difference back here…He frowned, glancing around. It was brighter everywhere, too bright for this late in the evening. Usually this was the hardest time of a day to see anything in. Did the powers improve his eyesight or something? The freshman leaned back, his hands resting on the roots of the tree behind him. It was the first thing that he wouldn't really complain about if he could see better. His eyesight had never been bad, but it was enough of an improvement to notice.

The feeling of sinking jolted him out of his thoughts and Danny sat up quickly, pulling his arms back out of the ground. Strange, he hadn't felt them phase that time…probably too occupied at the moment. Shooting a glare down at the white gloved hand to his right, he gave it a mental order to stay tangible before turning away again.

And turning back. _White gloves? _"What the…?" He scrambled to his feet, now looking himself over fully. A black haz-mat suit with white trimming…_No! No, no, no…_

The boy backed into the tree trunk, not really sure what it was he was trying to run from. The reality of it, perhaps. The fact he was now staring at the exact same suit he had been wearing when he came out of the Portal. _How did this happen?_ Upon slightly closer inspection, he realized why everything seemed brighter than it should be. The whole 'glowing' statement his friends had made actually made sense now…there was a white halo of light around his body, surrounding him completely. It wasn't brilliant, and not nearly as bright as the original flash - whatever _that _was - had been, but it was easily noticed. The teen's head was shaking back and forth as if he was trying desperately to convince himself that there was _no _way any of this could be true. As if to pound the final nail into the coffin, his hair flipped down over his eyes. White…snow-white, for the first time since the accident. _No no no no…_

His hand went over his eyes which he could safely assume were green again. What was happening to him? It felt like he was having a harder time keeping everything tangible like this, his legs especially. Was it permanent? One thought really shook the boy and he sank onto the ground again. _What am I supposed to tell Sam and Tucker? _They were okay with his powers, or so they said…but both of his friends had seemed terrified the last time they saw him like this. Would they even believe it was him?

_Calm down, Fenton, _he told himself, both hands clutching at his white hair. _Just breathe for a second…_Right. He didn't actually breathe now. After a moment's pause he confirmed that he didn't seem to have a heartbeat either. _What now? _

He couldn't go home like this. It was obvious what he was - or rather, what he _looked_ like. There was no way he was actually a ghost, right? It was just because of the freaky powers that he looked like this…Ghosts were dead, after all. He wasn't dead.

"_I'll give you half-dead, how's that work out?"_

"_Oh yes, Danny Fenton, the half-dead ghost-boy…"_

They had laughed about it then…

"No," Danny told himself stubbornly. Even his voice sounded different; there was a slight echo to it, as if he was hearing himself through a microphone. "I'm _not _a ghost, I'm not dead…I just have to figure out how to get back to normal. The invisibility can be reversed, so this should be too."

Glancing up, he sighed. Whatever he did, it had better be soon…curfew was in an hour.

* * *

**Bum bum bum! :3 Indeed yes, very obvious what happened here. He has found the trigger! There's a lot of italics in this chapter, I apologize. XD When freaking out, there tend to be lots of thoughts and emphasized words.**

**Thanks for following this so awesomely! ^^ 45 reviews is awesome! I always **_**always **_**love more! Reviews make me incredibly happy. (I reply to every signed one I get, but unfortunately I can't really reply to the anonymous ones. If possible, sign in so I can respond!)**

**This one isn't as long as some others (namely chapters 3, 9, and 10), but I liked how it turned out. ^^ Hope you guys did too! I shall now move on to the next chapter of Collisions. See ya'll over there!**

**~Waggy **


	12. Not Supposed to be Here

**Author's Note:**

**Soo…I'm currently kinda skipping Collisions to work on this. I've no muse for that one, but this one is getting all exciting. XD Sorry, Harry, you'll have to wait a little while.**

**Be prepared for action! Drama! Suspense! … or, well, a fanfiction! (Please note: the previously mentioned genres are in no way guaranteed to appear in the following chapter. -lawl sounds like some lawsuit-)**

**I would once again like to thank dragondancer123 for her epic beta reading. ^^ She's amazing, even when I forget to send it to her before I post. -headdesk- Further up and further in!**

**Disclaimer: I own some things. I don't own others.**

(Added note: I will warn you guys in advance; this one isn't nearly as funny as the others. After all, the summary does say it takes everything more seriously than the show does. Just be aware of this, kay?

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* * *

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"You alright, man? You seem kind of…off."

Danny managed not to jump, though he blinked quickly and looked up. Tucker had one eyebrow raised as he watched his friend over the burger in his hand. Sam, previously engrossed in some novel, shifted slightly and set the book down, her attention turned to the conversation. The raven-haired boy swallowed, blue eyes lowering before he replied.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" There was that word again. He vaguely wondered how often he said 'fine' every day. "Rough night, is all."

"What, you fall through the floor again?" Tucker chuckled at the thought, ignoring the sharp elbow Sam dug into his side. "I'm sure the kitchen is a wonderful place to sleep -"

"I didn't fall through the floor," Danny muttered, cutting his friend off. "For once I actually stayed solid all night. It was…" He sighed, leaning his head on one hand. "I just had some stuff I had to think about."

"Some of the…" The girl paused, glancing around quickly before lowering her voice, "the powers stuff?"

"You could say that." With a small grimace he let his head fall onto the wooden table. Lunch was quiet; most people were enjoying one of the only meals the cafeteria produced that _didn't _cause ulcers. No matter how terrible the rest of the food was, for whatever reason Stromboli actually turned out good. The lawn was nearly empty, save for the trio seated at their usual corner. "It apparently gets more complicated the longer this goes on." Why wasn't he telling them…what good would it dancing around it do?

"Tell me about it." Tucker snorted, eyes rolling. "First you fall through a floor, then there's a _teacher _in your house…I feel for ya, man." As the techie stuffed his mouth full of the meat he held, Danny turned his concentration back to the wood-grain beneath his arms. He wasn't all that sure why he wasn't telling his friends about the transformation…it had already been two days since that night at the park. He had ended up being nearly half an hour late for curfew because - as he had muttered plenty of times sitting on the grass - there was absolutely _no _way he was going home looking like he had.

The trigger turned out to be so stupid, he wasn't really surprised it had taken that long to find. It seemed while the cold in his chest would spread - changing him into that blasted haz-mat suit - the warmth that settled afterwards would change him back. He couldn't explain the rings of light that went with it, but the boy figured it was just some other ghost thing.

"Danny? Danny, you awake?" A sharp prod to one shoulder startled him. He felt his arm go intangible briefly before forcing it back. Black hair partly obscured his eyes as he shifted slightly to look up. Sam sighed, her arms crossing. "You are so spacy sometimes, I swear…"

"I'm a teenager, Sam," he muttered. "Even if I was normal I'd be spacy." She gave a reluctant chuckle, and then glanced around their area again.

"So it _is _still getting better, isn't it?" she asked. "I mean, you're controlling them better, you haven't actually phased through anything today." Danny snorted softly, watching the progress of a very confused pigeon across the street.

"Depends on your definition of 'better'." The freshman's eyes narrowed slightly at the bird, a small portion of his mind remembering how that was the same place they had seen the Box Ghost last time. "I don't really _care _how well I control the stupid things, I just want them gone."

"Come on Danny, they're not _that _bad," the girl told him. "So you can do some things other people can't, so what? It's almost like some…" She paused for a moment, searching for the right analogy, "some athletic skill or something. It takes a while to polish out the bumps, but -"

"Except an athletic skill can be used to _do _something with your life," he shot back quickly. "And if you decide you hate sports, you can choose to ignore the fact that you're good at them." Danny gestured at himself, his hand vanishing for emphasis. "I _can't _ignore this, Sam! Worst of all I didn't _choose _this, not by a long shot. This was just shoved on me, like the universe going 'Here, have some creepy ghost powers. Doesn't matter that you don't know how to keep them in check and they may very well mess up your _life_.'" The table fell silent for a moment while the boy glared between the others before sighing heavily. "Look guys, I appreciate the optimism, but…I never asked for this, you know? I just wanted to get through high school without having my face rearranged in the process. It would've been hard enough without everything else." _You should tell them…_

"The intangibility _does _give you a bit of an advantage though," Tucker pointed out helpfully. "It's not like you can get stuck in your locker anymore…not for long, anyway." He chuckled at a sudden thought, gaze going rather distant. "And I can think of so many people those green eyes would freak out…" Apparently they were always green when he shifted…_You should tell them._

"You can be such an idiot sometimes, Tuck," the girl scolded. "I doubt scaring Dash would do a whole lot to help at the moment." The other form would scare more than Dash…_You should tell them._

"Well what is he supposed to do, just sit around and pretend he doesn't have these things?" Tucker questioned, one eyebrow raised. "I mean sure, they can be annoying, but there are a lot of benefits-"

"That doesn't mean he should go around pranking people, I mean come on-"

_You should tell-_

"Guys," Danny cut in suddenly, eyes closed as his head began a dull throbbing. "Can we meet at the park today or something? Like, around five?" When he looked at them again, he inwardly winced at the rather worried looks they both had.

"Yeah, I can just drop off my books and come…" The other boy frowned, eying his friend carefully. "Something up?" Danny snorted, turning away again.

"You could say that. Although these days, something's _always _up."

_I can't show them, they'll freak out…_

_They're my best friends, they won't care. Besides, they've already seen the ghost before._

_Even _I _freaked out, and I didn't have to see it the first time!_

_They're my friends, they need to know…_

With a slight groan, the freshman ran one hand through his hair. "Just…just meet me by the tree, alright?" He stood then, ignoring Sam's frown and Tucker's half-open mouth to stride back toward the school. His head was still throbbing and various options ran through it. How would he tell them? It wasn't something that he could just blurt out. Did he even have to go through with it?

"You need to tell them, Fenton," he stated bluntly as he pushed the door open. "Whether they freak out or not, they need to know."

That just left the matter of how he was to go about doing it…

* * *

The rest of the day seemed like some dream, half the time it seemed to be moving in slow-motion, the other half he felt like it was going at twice the speed. He ended up walking to the park, telling Jazz to deliver the message that he and Tucker were studying. That excuse always seemed to allow him a little more lenience when it came to curfew, and he had no idea how long they would be out.

There were a few people walking when he arrived, mostly kids heading home. Their tree, as always, was in a less-traveled area. Letting his bag fall to the grass, Danny stared up at the leaves for a moment before pulling himself onto the lowest branch. It took a bit of undignified scrambling and he was momentarily glad he had come early. Leaning back on the trunk, the boy sighed, blue eyes closing. There was no way he could just come out and tell them about the shift…they wouldn't believe it, and he would have to prove it anyway. Maybe if he just showed them right away…

"Why does it have to be complicated?" Danny questioned. "Why can't I just say 'Hey guess what, I can make myself look like a stupid _ghost_'…" He put one hand to his face briefly before glancing at his watch; nearly an hour and a half to kill. "Great. What am I supposed to do, practice?" The teen paused at the thought then grimaced. It wasn't like there were a whole lot of other options. With a glance around the area, he finally sighed and straightened. The cold was still stubbornly present and seemed to pulse a little as he found it. After one more wary search for people, Danny closed his eyes again and winced slightly as the bright rings flashed behind his eyelids. It was way too easy for his liking. Surely something like this should take more practice to do quickly, right? As he looked down at himself, the boy sighed again. Haz-mat suit, of course.

Swinging his legs to dangle over one side of the branch he stared down at the white boots for a moment before slipping off and landing in a crouch. "Climb a tree just to get down again, that was pointless…" Arms crossed, Danny began pacing restlessly in front of the oak. He hardly noticed the cold anymore; it was prominent when he first shifted, but he would forget a moment afterwards. It was as if this form was impervious to the temperature change.

Bright green eyes turned to the sky briefly, spotting the sun as it sunk toward the rooftops. It was getting dark a lot sooner this time of year. He looked back down, watching his feet move under him and the grass rustle slightly as he passed over it. The freshman was rather surprised at how quietly he was walking; he was usually such a klutz…_Wait a minute…_Danny froze suddenly, staring down at the ground. There was something off, something different about the way he was standing.

He _wasn't _standing. At the realization, he leapt back with a yelp. All clumsiness came back in a flash and he found himself sprawling on the grass. If he was breathing, he would guess he would be near hyperventilating at the moment. _What the heck was that? _Tentatively he got to his feet, watching them warily. Everything was on the ground this time, as it should be…he could have sworn he hadn't been before. There had been at least a three inch gap between his boots and the grass. _Oh no, no, no…_Biting his lip, Danny glanced around again and then warily pushed himself off the ground as if trying to jump onto something. His body obeyed normally and he automatically tensed in preparation to strike the grass again…

The impact never came. He stayed in the same position for some thirty seconds before looking around hurriedly. "What the…?" He wasn't high at all, but the simple fact that he was somehow suspended in mid-jump was enough to send his mind racing. He had a small part of total logic-free paranoia screaming that if he moved, gravity would look up demand he fall back down. It was lucky the park was so quiet today, or a few passerby would have gotten a strange glimpse of a white-haired teen suspended, seemingly frozen, about a foot off the ground. After a little while Danny cringed, realizing that he _had _to move at some point. It wasn't far at all to fall, but he felt almost reluctant to give up the strange feeling of weightlessness that he usually associated with roller-coasters. He turned his head first, slowly looking up to scan the area. His arms lowered carefully to his sides, white-gloved hands in stiff fists. Finally, after a deep breath, the boy straightened his legs, standing upright. He had expected to just meet with the ground, but apparently his feet weren't any more eager to land than he was. The bottoms of his boots stayed in the same spot as the rest of him leveled out.

_This is all _kinds _of weird…_Granted, that was saying a lot considering what he had been through in the past two weeks, but he had to admit that levitating pretty much took the award for weirdest.

"_Seriously, what superhero with any reputation _doesn't _fly? … Why can't you, though? I mean, from what your folks say all ghosts can fly. It's one of the only things they have in common…"_

Tucker's words seemed to echo around his head for a moment and green eyes widened even further. Could this just be a new power? _Blast it, _another _one to learn to control? _Although, he hadn't had anything like this when he was human…

"Shut up, Danny, you _are _human," he growled to himself, arms crossing. "None of this changes that." The freshman ran one hand through his hair, turning to look at the sky. "Either way, it won't hurt to try it out…"

* * *

Alright, so there was _one _good thing about the entire situation; flying. Flying was awesome. No, scratch that. Flying was _incredible. _It had taken a little while to get used to and after about two minutes Danny had realized that he was easier to see above the trees. He managed to keep himself invisible the entire time after that point, which was a serious accomplishment. The hardest part was staying steady. His body was used to having something solid to support itself on and the air provided no such support. After a bit of stumbling around, however, it had come naturally. _A little too naturally, _one part of his mind grumbled. He ignored it. After all, this had to be good practice for working in zero-gravity. Once he got into the space program…

"Geeze, where _is _he? He came right after school…" Danny started as voices drifted up to him, wondering for a moment how he had gotten low enough to hear without noticing. _Right…improved senses._

"He did say the tree, right? Is this the usual tree?" Green eyes turned down, taking a moment to search the area for his friends, spotting them circling the tree he had originally been sitting on. He had nearly forgotten they were coming…There went planning to figure out what he was going to tell them. The teen cringed, warily descending to the path. He didn't have time to script anything now. It looked like everything would be played by ear.

"Here's his bag." Tucker nudged the abandoned backpack with one toe, eyebrow raised. "He was here…" Looking up, the techie began staring around with wide eyes as if he were trying to see through the dark. "I swear Danny, if you're invisible right now-"

"Shut up, Tuck," Sam whispered, elbowing him sharply and glancing around. "You want to go announcing it to the world?"

"Like anyone would believe me if they heard…"

Crud, he _was _still invisible, wasn't he? Danny glanced down at himself to confirm it quickly before striding toward the others. Even though he made a point to be on the ground, it seemed being able to fly made his footsteps nearly silent. _I could just go home now…I don't have to tell them today._

_They're your friends; _he reminded himself sharply. _They won't care. Sam will freak out a little, Tucker will think it's cool…but they won't really care. _He stopped a yard or so away, one hand going to the back of his neck nervously as they continued talking.

"He's around here somewhere," Sam muttered, hands on her hips as she turned in a full circle as if Danny would suddenly pop out of the ground. It wasn't too far from the truth, actually. _You can still turn around, they won't hear you…_

"Hey guys," he finally greeted hesitantly. They spun around and if the situation hadn't been so nerve-wracking, the shocked expressions would've been hilarious.

"Told you he was invisible," Tucker finally said with a rather triumphant grin. "Where've you been, man? We've been looking around for like, an hour."

"It's been five minutes, Tucker," the girl corrected, violet eyes flicking from side to side as she attempted to locate her friend. "What's with your voice, Danny? It seems…not like you." Right, his voice was different…

"I dunno, I…just noticed it a little while ago. How'd you know it was me?"

"Please, what other disembodied voice would consider talking to Tucker?" Sam ignored the indignant look the other boy sent her, her arms crossing. "Now would you come back to our range of vision? It's too weird talking to thin air." The white-haired boy bit his lip, glancing around quickly as if looking for any means of escape. _Just show them…_

"Yeah. Yeah, sorry about that." _And about this…_He took a quick breath before giving the slight push that brought his body back to the visible plane. It seemed even easier to do it when he was like this, all the powers came easier, really. Probably tied to the appearance somehow. Green eyes were wary as he looked up at his friends. He held gloved hands carefully down at his sides until he had to impatiently brush a stray lock of hair out of his face. Sam and Tucker were silent, both pairs of eyes wider than he had probably ever seen them. Offering a rather forced grin, Danny began to step forward but stopped quickly as they retreated.

"Wh-where's Danny?" Sam was the first to speak. Her voice was shaking and he could tell she was struggling to keep it under control. The boy flinched back as if struck, his bright eyes widening. _What?_ Tucker had stepped to the side hesitantly, bending to grab the backpack that still lay on the ground.

"C'mon Sam," the techie said quietly, barely loud enough for Danny to pick up. He put one hand on his friend's shoulder in an attempt to steer her away. "We can call him from my place…"

"_No!_" She pulled away from him quickly, taking a few steps toward the still silent teenager. "He was here, I know he was-_Where did he go?_" The last demand was aimed at him, he could tell, and Danny took a step back. He had never heard that much venom in Sam's voice before now and her dark eyes, though narrowed in some expression he couldn't quite identify, were glistening with held-back tears.

"I-" He didn't get far in his own defense before she was advancing on him again and the boy began backing up further.

"_What did you do with him?" _Her hands were clenched into fists and he knew if he got within range she would be swinging. Desperately he looked over at Tucker, but his friend wasn't watching him. He was keeping a close eye on Sam as if prepared to run in and pull her back. After the slight hesitation Danny was forced to dodge a combat boot as it came hurtling toward his knees. The realization struck him harder than any kick would be able to. _They don't recognize me…they forgot about this form. _The boy yelped as a fist finally came in contact with his side and he instinctively pushed himself into the air. Sam blinked once before she spotted him and impatiently wiped a fallen tear off her face.

"Sam, I-"

"Get back down here!" She was nearly screaming now and green eyes warily swept the area for any stray joggers. "You wad of ectoplasm, get down here and bring him _back!_" Tucker had grabbed her shoulder again and was whispering something hurriedly in her ear, but the girl didn't seem to be listening. She was crying freely now, what the logical part of his brain guessed was a mixture of his own apparent capture by some random ghost and the combined stress of the last two weeks. Tucker finally made her turn her back on Danny, still talking quickly and quietly in some attempt to calm his friend. Using the momentary lull to drift closer, the white-haired teen fought to keep his hands from shaking as he tentatively reached out.

"Sam? It's me, I-" He didn't expect Tucker to turn suddenly 'heroic', that was for sure. Pulling Sam behind him, he suddenly retreated a few steps. His eyes were wide, but there was a hint of challenge in them that Danny never saw before.

"You stay back," the techie warned, ignoring his companion's mutinous glares at the thought of being rescued in any form. "I don't know what you did, but Danny's definitely not the best choice for a ghost to mess with."

_Yeah, because I have ghost hunters for parents and apparently some rather defensive friends, _he thought darkly. Sam was attempting to break free of Tucker's grip and judging by the look in her eyes, it wouldn't be good for him once she did. Danny's mouth opened once before he closed it again. He could feel his throat tighten and his eyes were smarting slightly. _They don't recognize me. I'm just some ghost to them…_Giving the two a rather confused look, the boy turned suddenly, still a few feet off the ground as he retreated to a nearby cluster of bushes. Sam was still shouting at him, though he wasn't paying attention to the words at that point. The landing wasn't as graceful as his others had been. It ended up being more of a face-plant as he attempted to get his feet under him again. Spitting out a decent mouthful of grass, Danny sat up as he struggled to keep tears back. There was _no way _he was crying…it was lucky, for once, that he didn't have any breathing to control.

_They don't know me, _he realized numbly, still kneeling on the damp grass. _They're afraid of this._ Running one hand over his face, he swallowed heavily and then blinked a few times. There was no glove…had he changed back? He hadn't tried to…but then again, it wasn't like he had experience with this thing. All random hopes of a bad dream were driven away as he found the cold in his chest, as always. With a shuddering breath he felt one side of his neck, confirming a pulse beat there before getting to his feet. The boy wiped his face dry quickly and then stuffed his hands into his pockets to hide their tremors.

"_Danny!"_ They had spotted him fast. He glanced up, every effort going into making his face normal. All breath was knocked out of his lungs as Sam nearly tackled him in a brief, rib-crushing hug. Tucker jogged up behind her and the girl stepped back rather quickly, eyes lowered for a moment. It didn't last long, however, and Danny yelped as her fist met his shoulder.

"What was that for?"

"You _jerk,_ where were you?" she demanded, now glaring daggers at him. "We found your bag by the tree and you weren't there and-"

"I've been here!" he cut in quickly. "I could hear you guys the entire time, you just…I guess you didn't see me or something." Sam seemed to regain some of her composure, her hands finally unclenching. "Besides, what could've happened to me here, of all places?"

"There was…" Tucker glanced at his friend quickly before continuing. "There was a ghost over there, by the tree. Sam thought it might've run into you or something and we don't really know what it would do…" He shrugged rather warily, holding out Danny's bag. "You left this over there."

"Thanks." He swung the backpack onto his shoulders, still eyeing the other two as he attempted to get his breathing back to normal. "What-what kind of ghost was it?" The girl seemed to tense, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"It looked our age or something," she muttered. "White hair, some weird black suit…the thing kept trying to defend itself, like it hadn't done anything wrong."

"Had it?"

"Well…" Sam grimaced with a slight shrug. "I guess it didn't actually do anything to you like I thought, but…It's a _ghost, _Danny. Just like that stupid Box Ghost, it's not supposed to be here." _Not supposed to be here…_The boy gave a short laugh, eyes falling to the grass. His breathing was coming out in small shudders now, though the others hadn't seemed to notice yet.

"Yeah." Well, they _had _to have noticed that. He couldn't keep his voice steady, and Danny felt himself tense automatically as he searched for the section of cold. _Anything _to get him out of there. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Blue eyes flashed to green when he looked up and he attempted to keep all emotion out of them, though he knew it didn't work. "Thanks for getting my bag." The others gasped, stepping back as the now-familiar halo of light appeared at his waist. Their eyes grew, if possible, even wider, watching the light split in two and sweep across his body. One went up, one went down…the transformation was already old news to Danny who paused for a moment to gauge their reactions. His bag had vanished, but somehow he knew it would be on his shoulders again when he changed back. The silence was prominent and didn't show any sign of being broken when he sighed, pushing himself off the ground into the air. Sam suddenly stepped forward, one hand half raised.

"Danny, I-is that really you?" He snorted, turning away as he felt a tear slide down his face, ignoring his mental commands to stay back.

"Yeah, but I'm not supposed to be here, remember?"

"No, wait, I didn't-_Danny!_" The wind drowned out any other calls as he took off toward the block of houses he knew his own resided in. White hair was blown into his face as he flew but the boy didn't bother brushing it away. He slowed after a few minutes, vaguely realizing he had passed over FentonWorks without realizing it. Doubling back, Danny spotted the place in an instant and sank into the alley beside the house. The flash of light illuminated the dark corner momentarily and he strode quickly onto the sidewalk. One hand clutched at his backpack, the other impatiently wiped his face dry.

"_Just like that stupid Box Ghost, it's not supposed to be here…"_

The words echoed in his now throbbing head as Danny pushed the door open and slipped inside.

"That you, Danny-boy?" His father's voice boomed up from the lab and the boy paused, one hand on the stairway's railing.

"Yeah, I'm home."

"You wanna see the new Portal doors? These ones are ghost-proof! … Well, we think they are. There's not really any way of testing it without a ghost…" Danny's expression hardened at the mention of the Portal and he shook his head, realizing a moment later that Jack couldn't see him.

"No, I'm just…gonna head to bed. Long day, I need sleep."

"Right-o!" A rather loud crash sounded from downstairs, though the man continued like nothing had happened. "You can see them tomorrow! I'll give you a demonstration!"

"Yeah, thanks Dad." He took the stairs two at a time in an attempt to get in his room before anyone else tried to get him to talk. The door shut behind him with a satisfying click and Danny let his bag fall to the floor.

"_It's not supposed to be here…"_

After a moment's hesitation, the boy crossed to the window and looked out for a moment. The skyline was still changing colors, the sun having finally set a few minutes previously. He had turned away again when he paused, glancing over his shoulder at the cheap lock installed on the window latch. With a heavy sigh, the freshman slid it unlocked and then strode back to the light switch. The room fell dark and he stood for a moment longer by the door.

_Not supposed to be here…_

There was a very slight glow as blue changed again to neon green, but it vanished a second later when he squeezed his eyes shut.

_Not supposed to be here…_


	13. Not Supposed to be Here  Sam's POV

Sam was frowning by the time they reached the park, her arms folded across her chest.

"I don't like it, Tuck," she muttered for what was probably the fourth time. "Danny's not one to just wander off like this. Jazz thought he was with you?" The techie nodded, adjusting his backpack's straps slightly as they walked.

"I thought he was home," he stated with a slight shrug. "Don't worry about it, he'll be fine. He probably just came over here after school, gave himself time to think. Danny knows how to look after himself."

"That's what I'm worried about. He can be such an _idiot _sometimes, especially when he's stressed." Tucker barely held back a smirk and the girl caught his quiet murmur as the wind shifted toward her.

"Yeah, an idiot about quite a few things…"

"What did you say, Foley?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Sam sighed, one hand freeing itself to run over her face. "If it wasn't Danny I'd just turn around and go home…I need some tea." Green eyes turned to her with a rather amused expression.

"You drink tea?"

"You don't?"

It fell silent again, the only sound being the slight crunch of combat boots and sneakers on the gravel path. Danny wasn't the only one who was stressed. She had to admit, he probably had the worst of it, but the past two weeks had taken their toll on her and Tucker as well. The African-American boy - although still prone to sudden bursts of completely idiotic rambling - fell into rather prominent silences more often. He still cracked jokes and laughed right along with his best friend, but when Danny wasn't around, he seemed far too serious. She could tell he was worried, but worry didn't fit well on Tucker. He would either laugh everything off in an attempt to get the others to smile, or just hide every other emotion with it for short periods of time.

Sam could only hope she was as good at acting carefree as her friend was. In truth, everything about this whole ordeal scared her; the Portal explosion, the sudden appearance of these 'powers', the way his eyes kept changing…She knew if she began fretting, though, Danny would worry even more. She was the one who wasn't fazed by weird things. If Sam Manson was scared, the world had better be running in circles screaming.

_Just take it in stride, Sam, _she told herself as she had so many times since the accident. _Things get worse before they get better. This'll work itself out. _So why did she have so much trouble believing it?

"Which one _is _our usual tree?" Tucker asked suddenly, looking around them with a crooked grin. "I didn't even know we had a usual." The girl sighed good-naturedly, shaking her head.

"The big oak, past the fountain," she reminded him, pointing down the path. "It's a little ways off the trail, remember? Not many people go by which is, I'm sure, why Danny chose it as a meeting place." The boy sighed heavily and she turned to him with a slight frown. He had stopped, staring rather intently at the ground between his feet.

"I hate all this secrecy," he muttered. Glancing up he lifted one hand as she opened her mouth to reply. "I know it's for a good reason, I think it would be idiotic to go waltzing this stuff around, but…it just seems like we're trying to have two separate lives, you know?" Sam managed a small smile, her hand going automatically to her friend's shoulder.

"Trust me, I know," she said quietly. "It's a pain right now, but…hopefully we can have less of the secrets after things start straightening out." Tucker stayed silent for another moment before his usual carefree look slipped back into place.

"C'mon, we're already late. He'll probably get in a fight with some squirrel if left alone too long." Sam laughed, her hand falling back to her side as the boy strode off again. Part of her wished Danny could see that side of the techie that so rarely emerged. She was sure it had happened at some point; the two were best friends, after all. It was doubtful, however, that Tucker ever showed the other teen when it was _him _he was concerned about. It might be for the best, really. Danny was notorious for feeling guilty about things that were in no way his fault, and this would definitely be one of them.

"Stupid hero complex," she muttered, following the red beret on her friend's head. "You can't make _everyone_ happy, Fenton."

* * *

"Geeze, where _is _he? He came right after school…" Sam rolled her eyes briefly as Tucker muttered, glancing around the area for the third time. Although she wouldn't admit it, she was currently agreeing with him. Danny wasn't one to forget things easily, especially things he scheduled himself. "He did say the tree, right? Is this the usual tree?" She looked up at the towering branches and frowned slightly.

"Yeah, this is it," the girl said quietly. "So why isn't he here?"

"Here's his bag." Tucker nudged the backpack with one toe as if worried it might attack him. "He _was _here…" Green eyes widened as he began staring around wildly and Sam suppressed a laugh. "I swear Danny, if you're invisible right now-" Speaking of stupid proclamations…

"Shut up, Tuck," the girl whispered, digging an elbow into his side for emphasis. A quick glance proved the area to be clear of passerby, luckily, but she didn't know what they were supposed to have done if someone overheard. "You want to go announcing it to the whole world?" He grimaced, rubbing his side.

"Like anyone would believe me if they heard…" Sam shook her head, violet eyes rolling. There was a distinct possibility Danny was invisible, of course. She was slightly tense, half expecting an unseen tap on the shoulder.

_What if he isn't invisible, though? _the paranoid part of her mind questioned. _What if something happened? _

"He's around here somewhere," she muttered stubbornly, turning in a circle with her hands on her hips in an attempt to spot the messy black hair. At this point, she didn't know who she was convincing - Tucker, Danny, or herself? Danny wouldn't be stupid enough to get himself into much trouble, would he? It was Amity Park, after all, what danger was there?

"Hey guys." The voice was sudden and apparently out of nowhere. She knew for a fact that she hadn't heard anyone approach. Both of the teens whipped around searching aimlessly for the source. No one _seemed _to be there, which left just one other option…But there was no way-

"Told ya he was invisible," Tucker declared, shooting her a triumphant grin. "Where've you been, man? We've been looking around for like, an hour."

"It's been five minutes, Tuck," Sam felt compelled to correct, still carefully scanning the area for any traces of her friend. That voice did _not _sound like Danny, no matter what conclusions Tucker jumped to. It had similar qualities, but there was something off. It almost seemed to echo, as if he were speaking through a megaphone. But no, it _had _to be Danny; if it wasn't him, where was he? "What's with your voice, Danny?" she questioned carefully. "It seems…not like you." There was a slight pause in which he seemed to consider this before replying.

"I dunno, I…just noticed it a little while ago." The hesitation did remind her of the boy. She could easily imagine his wary look, one hand going to the back of his neck like it always did. "How'd you know it was me?"

_I don't, _she muttered silently, fighting back the slight panic that was rising in her chest. No, it _had _to be him. "Please, what other disembodied voice would consider talking to Tucker?" The techie sent her a rather indignant look, one she ignored as she crossed her arms and kept her eyes on the general area the voice was coming from. It was harder to pinpoint the way it sounded now. "Now would you come back to our range of vision? It's too weird talking to thin air." _Just come back…prove it's you, prove I don't have to be worried constantly. _There was a moment of hesitation before he responded.

"Yeah. Yeah, sorry about that." What was he sorry for? There was another pause which she knew fit. From what Tucker had said, it took Danny a bit of effort to bring his entire body back to normal. It wasn't all that long, however, before a teenage boy appeared quite suddenly in front of them. Sam took a split second to glance him over and froze.

_No…_Snow-white hair, green eyes so bright she could've sworn they were actually glowing, a black jumpsuit with white gloves and boots…and his entire body seemed surrounded in some white aura. It was like the kid had stepped right out of a sci-fi movie. There was only one thing she was certain of, though; whoever this was, Danny was still gone and the freaky-glow-guy had _something _to do with it.

"Wh-where's Danny?" she finally asked, cursing her voice as it shook. She could feel Tucker carefully slip around behind her, kneeling to pick up Danny's fallen bag. The other kid seemed to flinch as if he had been smacked which gave her a small satisfaction. His green eyes widened and he seemed confused for a moment. Sam felt a hand on her shoulder and could spot the red beret out of the corner of her eye. Tucker was trying to gently turn her away and she knew his eyes were locked on the white-haired teen in front of them as if expecting an attack.

"C'mon Sam, we can call him from my place…" Like that would do any good, Danny never remembered his phone. The other boy seemed to lean forward slightly, his frown deepening. Had he heard that? It had been surprisingly quiet for Tucker, how would he have heard it? Suspicions flared and she pushed away a slight nagging in the back of her mind that was telling her she had seen this kid before.

"_No!" _The girl pulled away from her friend taking a few steps toward the 'offender' who had yet to say a word since he appeared. "He was here, I know he was-_Where did he go?_" She blinked quickly, knowing her eyes were filling with tears. There was no way she would give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry…The boy seemed uncertain, glancing around as if he was searching for an escape.

"I-" He cut off as she advanced on him, her hands automatically clenching into fists. As he backed up he met her eyes briefly and she could see a trace of desperation in them. Worried about getting caught, was he?

"_What did you do with him?" _She knew she was getting slightly hysterical, but at the moment the Goth really didn't care. Her best friend was missing, this creepy kid had _something _to do with it and the last two weeks hadn't done anything for her nerves. She saw the kid look over her shoulder, apparently at Tucker, as if begging for help. Sam's eyes narrowed and she felt a few tears escape but ignored them. One boot swung out automatically, aiming for his knees in an attempt to bring the intruder down. He dodged rather easily and she saw his face suddenly fall as if in defeat. She didn't even realize she had been swinging until her fist hit the boy's side and he yelped.

Honestly, somehow leaping effortlessly into the air was something she hadn't been expecting. Violet eyes widened as she automatically searched the ground before, blinking, she spotted him hovering at least a foot above her head. Sam had only seen one other…thing manage to make it look so easy, as if flying were second nature. Wiping a tear impatiently off of her face she glared daggers at her oppressor, only one logical explanation running through her head. _Ghost…he's a ghost. A ghost has my best friend._

"Sam, I-"

"Get back down here!" she shouted, her voice still shaking and now hoarse. Green eyes seemed to look around warily as she continued. "You wad of ectoplasm, get down here and bring him _back!_" A firm hand was on her shoulder again and she vaguely realized Tucker was whispering something, trying to get her to calm down. The girl knew she was crying now but all concerns about it had vanished. _Bring him back, bring back our friend, bring back what our life used to be like…_She allowed Tucker to finally turn her around, both of his hands on her shoulders now as he spoke hurriedly. She didn't catch half of the words, but it was enough to let most of her fury fall away.

"Sam? It's me, I-" The girl felt herself suddenly pulled back as Tucker stepped in front of her and she caught a glimpse of the defiance in his eyes. She shot him an attempt at a glare, though it really wasn't as vicious as planned. Sam Manson did _not _need to be rescued.

"You stay back," her friend warned and she could see the ghost freeze, one hand still outstretched. Had he been reaching for her? "I don't know what you did, but Danny's definitely not the best choice for a ghost to mess with." The thought of sending the Fentons after this particular spirit gave Sam a feeling of immense satisfaction. She began attempts to free herself from Tucker's grip, violet eyes locked on the white-haired teenager. Granted, the girl really had no idea what she was going to do once she got a hold of it. Rather dim reminders of the fact that ghosts could just phase through any blows she might manage passed through her head, but she ignored them. She _would _get her hands on that blasted ghost and _make _him bring her friend back. The details were far from important at the moment.

Rather than looking intimidated, the intruder just seemed confused. His mouth opened once as if he were trying to say something before closing again. Green eyes seemed a bit brighter than they had been and he was blinking rapidly. She had to admit, a sudden retreat was about as expected as his initial flight. The ghost shot them one more baffled look before turning, still a few feet off the ground, and flew off, quickly disappearing out of their line of sight.

"You coward!" Sam screamed over Tucker's shoulder, still straining to escape. The techie could be fairly strong if the need arose. "Get back here, you stupid ghost!"

"Sam-"

"Bring him back! Bring-"

"Sam, listen to me!" She cut off, struggling to keep herself slightly composed. "He's gone, and I doubt he's going to get near you for quite a while." As the girl mutely shook her head, one hand going to wipe impatiently at her face, Tucker let go of her shoulders to swing the bag he still held over one arm. "We'll find Danny, alright? It's not like that ghost could've-Sam!" He seemed to groan in resignation as she took off at a sprint toward where the ghost had vanished, quickly following at a slightly slower speed.

_He's around here, _Sam told herself stubbornly. _He's got to be around here. _Part of her didn't know who she was actually talking about. Whether she found the spirit or her friend, however, _somehow _things would work out. The girl neared a small cluster of hedges, dark eyes scanning the entire area intently. It was the sight of messy black hair that snapped her attention forward and she managed to cover the few yards in what felt like two steps.

"_Danny!" _The boy grunted as she plowed into him and she caught a glimpse of an extremely startled expression before her face was buried in his shoulder. It seemed like he had recently fallen; there was still dirt and traces of grass on the white material of his T-shirt and he smelled like freshly a cut lawn. As Tucker caught up, puffing slightly, Sam pulled away and lowered her gaze to the ground. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and she aimed a quick punch at the raven-haired boy's arm. He gave a satisfying yelp, automatically rubbing the struck area and looking down at her with obvious indignity.

"What was that for?"

"You _jerk, _where were you?" she demanded, her eyes now slit as she glared up at him. Danny may be rather short for a freshman, but he was always somewhat taller than her. In times like this it was distinctly unhelpful. "We found your bag by the tree and you weren't there and-"

"I've been here!" he interrupted, earning another rather piercing look. "I could hear you guys the entire time, you just…I guess you didn't see me or something." Sam managed a deep breath, her hands finally relaxing at her sides as she looked the boy over. If he could hear them, why didn't he come…? "Besides, what could've happened to me here, of all places?"

"There was…" Tucker spoke up, having finally caught his breath. He shot a glance at the girl before plowing on as if afraid she might stop him if he hesitated. "There was a ghost over there, by the tree. Sam thought it might've run into you or something and we don't really know what it would do…" He had a point there, actually. What would a ghost do to a teenager if they happened to meet? The techie shrugged warily, offering Danny his backpack. "You left this over there."

"Thanks." The bag swung onto his shoulders, blue eyes alternated between both of his friends as Danny seemed to try and find some hidden information. "What-what kind of ghost was it?" Sam felt herself tense at the mention of him, her violet eyes narrowing and watching the ground carefully.

"It looked our age," she said carefully. _It, not him, _the girl had to remind herself. _It was a ghost. _She frowned as a small part of her mind prodded itself, insisting that she had seen it somewhere before…but there was no way; the Box Ghost was the first actual ghost any of them had ever seen. "White hair, some weird black suit…the thing kept trying to defend itself, like it hadn't done anything wrong." Danny was watching her carefully now.

"Had it?" The question shocked her a bit, and Sam forced herself to pause and consider.

"Well…" She gave a slight shrug, almost unwilling to admit it. "I guess it didn't actually do anything to you like I thought, but…It's a _ghost, _Danny. Just like that stupid Box Ghost, it's not supposed to be here." It was an obvious fact, really; ghosts didn't belong in this world, they were supposed to stay in whatever freaky place they came from, and the fact there were at least two running around the town creeped her out more than she was willing to admit. She looked up again as Danny gave a short, humorless laugh. He had taken up the role of watching the grass, his hands clenched around the straps of his bag.

"Yeah." Sam's eyes widened. The boy's voice was shaking and, now that she looked closely, his hands were as well. He seemed to tense as if preparing to suddenly sprint away from some unseen enemy. "Yeah, I guess you're right." The natural baby-blue flashed suddenly to green as he looked up at them again. That in itself wasn't strange anymore, but they seemed brighter, even wet. There was a look in them that she couldn't quite place, though it seemed almost like…defeat. "Thanks for getting my bag."

The two were blinded for a second as a sudden flash of white-blue light appeared at their friend's waist. Sam stumbled back a step, eyes widening even further than she would have assumed was possible. The light split suddenly and the two rings traveled over Danny's body purposefully. One swept upwards over his chest and head, the other down over his hips and legs. They vanished as soon as they reached the top of the hair and bottom of the feet respectively and a prominent silence stretched over the three. Where Danny had stood a second before in his usual t-shirt and jeans, a ghost now watched them carefully.

The haz-mat suit was mostly black, save for its gloves, boots, belt and collar. His hair, usually jet black, was snow-white, though it was just as messy. The eyes, though…they were the only part of him she knew, having seen that neon green on her best friend so often recently. It was those eyes that had been staring at her with dismay as she screamed at him, practically attacked him…and then closed briefly now as he sighed, pushing himself effortlessly into the air.

_How-why-? _What was she even supposed to ask? How did you get like this? Why didn't you tell us? One of her hands began rising as if she were trying to pull him back down again. "Danny, I-" _Since when could he fly, anyway?_ "Is that really you?" The boy snorted, turning away from them. His voice was strained as he replied, obviously trying to keep it steady.

"Yeah, but I'm not supposed to be here, remember?" Her breath caught in her throat at the words and Sam froze. He couldn't think she was talking about him-but how would he not? It _had _been him the entire time, the one trying futilely to defend himself while she blocked out every word.

"No, wait, I didn't-" He had taken off already, white hair whipping back in the wind. The boy's legs had apparently vanished, merging to make some strange translucent tail that flew out behind him. _"Danny!" _The ghost-boy didn't turn, and part of her wasn't surprised. Why would he, after all of this? Tears slipping down her face again, Sam stared over the rooftops where her friend vanished. The sounds of footsteps startled her out of her thoughts and she turned to see Tucker already striding down toward the main street. "Tuck-?"

"Hurry up!" he called, and she noticed even his voice was strained. "I still have a curfew, but there is _no way _he's going to mope all night." Trust Tucker to even attempt a joke now…Glancing up at the setting sun, she bit her lip as one arm wiped her face quickly. Her parents would probably freak, but what else was new?

_You have to set this straight, Manson, _she told herself. _Tell him…_Tell him what? What on earth was she supposed to tell him? Sam jogged down the grass after her friend, still blinking hurriedly. Tell him everything was going to work out, as she always did? That none of it mattered? He was a _ghost_, what part of that was even slightly okay? The girl shook her head as they reached the sidewalk, carefully avoiding Tucker's eyes. No, he wasn't a ghost…ghosts were dead. Danny wasn't dead. The two freshmen set off quickly down the street, silence reigning for the first few minutes. She could see where flight would come in handy, especially if one wanted to make a quick getaway. Danny was probably already home while they still had at least five blocks.

"What are we going to say?" Sam finally asked hesitantly, glancing up at the boy beside her with a frown. He paused before sighing, one hand running quickly over his face.

"I don't know," the techie admitted. "I just…we need to say _something._"

"So what, this isn't a big deal for you?" Her voice rose slightly before she realized it and they both glanced around the buildings quickly.

"My best friend is a ghost, Sam," Tucker muttered after a moment, voicing the fear that she so stubbornly pushed back. "It's a bit of a big deal."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Yeah, I didn't end the last chapter with an author's note because I figured it would have cut the mood terribly. I didn't start this one with an author's note because…well, it would've cut the mood terribly. (For all those reading straight through)**

**I speak for a moment to Samara, one of my reviewers; Are you following me or something? I had been seriously thinking about doing chapter 12 from Sam's point of view. I come on the computer and your review mirrors my thoughts. I'm a little creeped out. x3**

**Anyway, this chapter was (if you couldn't tell) the last section - after the second line-break - told from Sam's point of view. Hopefully it cleared a few things up and was just an enjoyable read.**

**I once again thank Dragondancer123 profusely for being my most epic beta-reader. ^^ I hope everyone had a very excellent Christmas! (Muse permitting, I will soon have the next chapter of my House crossover posted. I've been neglecting it a bit. -pets story-) ****Until next time!**

**~Waggy**


	14. Two Annoying Squirrels

**Author's Note:**

**This chapter…took a while. I'm sorry about that! My House crossover took forever to work out, my flash drive went MIA…but here I am, once again!**

**One reviewer asked for Danny not to go too easy on Sam and Tucker. You, dear reader, have gotten your wish. Drama, here we come!**

**I hope ya'll enjoy it!

* * *

**

Danny fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed. He had expected to be kept up all night with worry, but it seemed like the stress had gotten the best of him. His dreams were confusing, to say the least. One minute he was flying, now actually aware of what it felt like, and the next he would be fighting for control as the ground decided to rush to meet him.

He never actually hit though, and the boy suddenly found himself perched in a tree while a few squirrels threw acorns at his head.

"_Leave me alone," he muttered, one hand going to his hair, which he knew was white. "I'm trying to go through the stupid tree." One squirrel paused with its acorn still in hand and looked at him. It hesitated as if preparing to express some deep, obscure thought._

"_Ow!" The other squirrel turned to shake a tiny fist at it._

"_Shut up, you wanna get caught?"_

"_How do you do this on a regular basis? It's nuts!"_

The boy woke with a start, flailing about in the blankets for a few seconds before managing to pull his head to the surface and looking around quickly. Judging by the clock, he had only been out for maybe ten minutes. There were voices coming from below his window, something that would probably have worried most people. It was a fairly common occurrence with the Fenton household, however, and he frowned. Tucker usually didn't come up the side of the house unless it was just to annoy him. The fact Danny's father was regularly armed with ecto-guns didn't encourage anyone to try sneaking around at night. Why would he…?

The memories of the park came quickly and he froze. _Right…_His breath caught in his throat and he turned toward the darkened window. Why were they coming? Did they want to try and fix everything?

Tucker's face appeared behind the glass and he strained slightly to tug himself up to the window at least a foot higher. With a grunt, the techie shoved his shoulder onto the sill and managed to scramble over the edge. He hit the floor with an indignant yelp, one that was quickly shushed by Sam who had just appeared.

"You trying to wake everyone up?" she hissed, her hands clutching at the sill and lifting her effortlessly after her friend.

"They're not asleep." Both of the freshmen started, looking up quickly at Danny as he shifted into a better sitting position. "My folks are in the lab, Jazz went to a friend's house to study." There was a short silence before Sam shrugged slightly.

"Basic instinct when sneaking," she muttered. "Why were _you _asleep, then?" The boy returned the shrug, his arms crossing.

"What else am I going to do?" he asked, looking anywhere but at the other's faces.

"Try returning our calls, for one," Tucker grumbled, pushing himself to his feet. "We've been trying to get a hold of you since you ran off."

"Yeah, I'm sure…"

"It took forever to get over here; there was sidewalk construction on seventh…" the techie told him, reaching to close the window again.

"I thought you had forgotten your phone or something, because it's usually easy getting a hold of you," Sam felt inclined to add. Blue eyes narrowed slightly and he glanced up at the ceiling.

"What do you expect me to do, just forget everything and pretend like everything's all good again?"

"Alright, you better not start the moping, Fenton," the girl told him suddenly, striding across the room. "You won't even listen to reason when you're like this, and it won't help anything."

"_What do you expect me to do?"_ All calm evaporated instantly and the other two winced back as Danny moved to the edge of the bed with both hands clutching the covers tightly. _"What am I supposed to do? _Do you want me just to smile and say everything's fine? You want me to go on with life, pretend nothing happened?"

"No, but-"

"Am I supposed to accept the fact that my two friends are afraid of me? I don't know what's going on Sam, but I know that much. This freaks you out as much as it does me, maybe even a little more. You told me that you wouldn't walk away because of all this, but that was before…" He ran one hand over his face, standing. "Before all this showed up. Yeah, so maybe invisibility and falling through a wall isn't such a big deal, but when I can look like-like a ghost? That's stretching things a bit, huh?"

"Well it's not really-"

"I'm sorry if I expected any different," he went on, apparently oblivious to the girl's attempted interruptions. "I guess it was a naïve to believe my friends could handle something like this." Blue eyes narrowed and his friends were surprised that they hadn't yet turned green as he glared at them. "You two…you _said _nothing would change. Just because I had these freaky powers, it didn't mean you would be any different." The boy's expression was almost venomous now. "So what _other _promises have you skipped out on?"

"Danny, you haven't even-"

"What? Looked on the bright side of things? Tried to see the good in this? Trust me, it's not there."

"No, you idiot." The girl was glaring now, crossing his room in a few strides and jabbing her friend in the chest. "You haven't even let us explain. It would do a whole lot of good if you'd just stop jumping down our throats and shut up for a minute!" He froze, but his face quickly fell again and Danny turned away with crossed arms.

"Fine. Feel free to explain." Sam glared at him a moment longer before seeming to deflate. She tugged a chair from under the far desk and sank into it, elbows resting on her knees.

"Okay, yeah, I was a jerk," she muttered. "A huge one. But that entire thing, it was...it was a shock, you know? I go there looking for my best friend and the first thing I see is a ghost, it's not something you'd expect." The Goth glanced up at him, grimacing at his facial expression. "I freaked out, okay? It happens sometimes."

"You'd seen me before." She stopped, looking up with a frown.

"What?"

"The ghost, you'd seen it...me. Down in the lab after the Portal blew." He crossed to the window and stared out into the grow dark, ignoring Tucker's raised eyebrow. "I suppose I just...expected different after the park. You guys both said none of this bothered you, that it wasn't that big of a deal." Danny glanced over his shoulder and his friends weren't surprised to see the neon green. "I figure it's kind of a big deal now that I'm not even human."

"W-what-Danny, of course you're human..."

"Can you really say that, Sam?" His eyes narrowed and he looked away again. She could hear a slight tremor in his voice though he was trying to hide it. "Human? Come on, with all this?" The boy took a shaky breath and then his arms suddenly snapped to his sides as if he had come to some sudden decision. "I see it when the things happen, you know. Whenever I just vanish or start to fall through stuff. You hide it well, but I can see...you guys are as afraid of it as I am." Tucker suddenly sat up, straightening his beret quickly.

"We're not afraid, dude-" The techie cut off, flinching back as a sudden flash of blue light briefly stunned him and Danny cut in mid-transformation.

"Really, Tuck?" he snapped, turning as the rings completed their journeys and vanished again. The white hair was falling in his face, but he didn't seem to notice. "Look at this! First I drop things, then I just vanish and now it's changing my entire freaking body! This-this isn't even Danny Fenton anymore. I don't know who this is, but you're afraid of him. I've known you for too long, Tucker, I can tell. It disturbs you that your friend is dead...or half-dead, or whatever. It scares the heck out of me too, let me tell you." The other boy swallowed and opened his mouth as if to reply, but gave up the prospect and looked away. Danny snorted, turning back to Sam who was watching with wide eyes.

"Danny, I-"

"What? Are you going to tell me that everything will work out?" he muttered. All bite seemed to vanish and his shoulders fell again. The boy didn't even notice he was floating a few inches off the carpet.

"No, I'm...I don't know if it'll work out." Sam stood, reaching to put one hand on his shoulder. He was even colder than before and seemed to almost flinch away from the touch. "I honestly don't. This is...it's not normal, I know that. But we can do something, Danny, we might be able to find some way to fix you-" She broke off with a sharp intake of breath, realizing a moment too late what she had said. Green eyes locked with violet and the former suddenly flared as he shrugged off her hand sharply.

"Fix me?" Danny growled. "Whatever this is, whatever it's doing...I don't need fixing, Sam."

"No, I know that, I just-"

"I'll see you guys at school." He brought the lights back as quickly as the had come, already walking toward the door as they changed him back again. The boy stepped into the hallway, the latch snapping behind him softly. There was a moment of silence. Sam and Tucker exchanged wary glances and an instant later the door opened once again, exposing Danny who now looked almost sheepish. "This is my house…"

"Look, can't we explain?" Sam pleaded, her hands idly twisting her skirt. The raven-haired boy paused, his eyes locked on the floor before he shook his head very slightly.

"What is there to explain?" His sigh seemed to come out shakier than before and Danny crossed his arms tightly across his chest. "Just…please, leave me alone for now, okay?" The others glanced at each other, frowning, before reluctantly exiting into the hallway. It was lucky the Fentons were rarely suspicious when the teenagers - though usually just Tucker- who had never come in the front door suddenly appeared and then left. Tucker paused, turning back to the door only to find it already closed. His mouth hung open for a moment before he hurried to follow Sam who was already to the stairs.

"What was that?" the techie asked, one hand scratching at his head incredulously. Sam simply sighed, violet eyes staring very pointedly ahead of her.

"That…that was handled better than I expected, actually…"

* * *

Danny didn't think there had been a time when he hated school more. There was no normal excuse to stay home, so he had trudged out to the bus as usual. A habit was broken, however, as he chose a seat near the front. The boy could feel Tucker's gaze on the back of his head but ignored it, staring at the windshield ahead of him. He had, of course, failed to finish any assignment from the previous day which earned a few lectures. Though they were largely ignored he managed to get through the speeches with the expected nods and muttered apologies.

That, added to the fact his powers were on the fritz, did not a cheerful teenager make. He knew it was from stress, the sudden burst of emotions, but they were still difficult to handle nonetheless. The first part of the day held no major mishaps. There were a few that gave him odd looks as he stopped to stare intently at a 'motivational' poster on the hallway wall, struggling to keep himself visible, but no one spotted the few times an arm or leg would randomly vanish. As strange as it seemed later, Danny wished for the previous week. Before he had found the trigger that set off his transformation, there hadn't been much trouble with it. Now, however, it was as bad as his invisibility. The cold kept pushing at him, attempting to make the shift every ten minutes or so.

He could feel Sam and Tucker's worried looks from across the room in every class they shared and took every effort to avoid eye contact. _They don't get it, _the freshman told himself time and time again. _They just don't get it…It's not like I can just snap my fingers and be better._ _It's not like I asked for this._

"What was that?"

Danny started, looking up from his lunch and realizing, a moment too late, that he had said the last sentence out loud. To his dismay - the universe really _did _hate him - Mr. Wolfe was passing by with a stack of papers in one hand and a thermos in the other. The front lawn had been otherwise deserted at the moment and the boy had sought solitude on the steps. Apparently that was too much to hope for.

"Nothing," he finally muttered, turning back to the sandwich in hand.

"Where are Tucker and Sam?" Blue eyes narrowed slightly at the squished bread, but he managed to keep his voice nonchalant.

"I dunno." The teacher seemed to ponder this for a moment before giving a small grunt and crouching next to the teen.

"Mind if I join you, then?" Danny fought back a cringe and paused, forcing his arm to stay solid before shrugging.

"It's not like I can stop you," he commented, keeping his attention on his lunch. Mr. Wolfe chuckled softly as he sat, tucking the papers under one arm and twisting open his thermos.

"The detention room has a gas leak," he explained. "They moved into my room for today. Rather ironic, considering I have gas valves at every table…" The man gave a good-natured grimace, then took a sip of whatever was in the container he held. "It's impossible to get anything done with a bunch of kids glaring at you for half an hour."

"So having them for an hour is better how?" With another chuckle, Mr. Wolfe shook his head.

"Touché. At least a few of those actually signed up for it, though."

"Well yeah, most of us need to if we want to get into any sort of college." They fell silent for a moment and Danny concentrated on his sandwich, aware of the man's examination of him. He swallowed the current bite and one hand went to the back of his neck. The distant sounds of the cafeteria could be heard faintly from the other side of the building, the usual shrieks of laughter echoing across the lawn.

"Seems like the golden trio has had a bit of a conflict," Mr. Wolfe observed quietly. The boy looked up, his face hardening quickly. "I haven't seen you three together all day. That's probably a record."

"Well…yeah, you could say that."

"Can I be so bold as to ask what happened?"

"I'd rather you not." The teacher shrugged one shoulder, taking a drink out of his thermos again.

"Fair enough." He paused, eyes roaming the lawn for a moment. "Is there anything I can—"

"No."

"I think I've been talking to you too often, Danny," Mr. Wolfe commented with a very slight grin. "You know all my speeches before I even start them."

"Not exactly my fault." Brown eyes narrowed as he gazed across the street and Danny could tell the man's mind was whirling.

"True, I'm afraid that blame rests on me." Another drink. He paused, shifting the papers to sit on the concrete next to him. "Though you can't say I haven't had good reason to." The boy snorted, now unconcerned as to whether or not he was rude.

"I could say that easy enough," he muttered. "It's not like I'm suicidal or anything. Just…just stressed."

"Average teenage issues, then?" The ex-Marine was rather surprised as blue eyes suddenly turned to him, narrowed in a glare.

"Not in the slightest," he said quietly. His voice was almost shaking, but he managed to keep it under control. After a pause, Mr. Wolfe cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the opposite street.

"I _know _you despise hearing these sorts of things," he warned, "but I feel inclined to mention…I dealt with some strange situations when I was younger. A bit older than you, granted, but I couldn't have been more than twenty. It was that 'invincible' phase, and…" He trailed off as if reluctant to say anymore, then shot his student what looked to be an attempted apologetic glance. "Just know, whatever's going on, it would be difficult to shock me."

"Oh yeah?" Danny got to his feet quickly, the ringing bell suddenly echoing across the school. His sandwich wrapper crumpled in one hand, he pulled his backpack onto his shoulders again and started up the steps. "Your's have anything to do with the paranormal?" The front doors swung shut behind him as the freshman slipped back into the crowds, somehow merging with them and sticking out at the same time. Mr. Wolfe blinked once before he gathered his unfinished paperwork and stood.

_Paranormal? _he wondered as he followed Danny inside, weaving through the milling students. _His parents deal with ghosts, but why would that be an issue for him? _An smirk came over his face and the man touched two fingers to his scar idly. Granted, anything to do with the paranormal could easily effect everyone within a mile's radius. Blasted ghosts, even as rare as they were the things could be a real annoyance.

His thoughts as meandering as they were, the teacher found a single word crop up in his mind for a moment; _intangibility. _Oh yes, that one was an interesting effect. It made life extremely exciting sometimes, seemed to be a-

Wait a minute.

One hand was on his doorknob when he stopped short, the noise level in the hallway seeming to drop suddenly. _Intangibility…_He had done research on it before he joined the Marines. It had almost no information that wasn't just wild guesses, but the few reliable articles - namely some from the Fentons themselves - had defined the ability clearly. Walking through walls, floating through ceilings, sinking into solid asphalt…and having objects fall through one's hand, perhaps?

Brow furrowed, Mr. Wolfe pushed the door open, pleased to see the detention servers already gone. He barely seemed to notice where his feet took him and sat heavily in the chair behind his desk. Brown eyes were unfocused, staring at the hard wood surface intently as he thought. Images of broken beakers and a nearly full 'pointy box' flashed quickly past his mind's eye and he attempted to recall the last actual broken piece of equipment.

Had the boy been holding it? He had been so sure. After all the lectures of saving the beakers for the next semester, it didn't seem like Danny would just ignore them and throw the things across the room. One of the other students had nearly bumped into him, but the glassware was in his left hand, opposite of any possible impact. He wasn't even positive they had collided, but the next second another beaker was shattered on the floor - again. Fighting to bring the memory back clearer, the teacher put his head in his hands, palms pressed against his eyes.

Danny _had _been holding the thing, that much was certain. It seemed like it had simply -

"Fallen through his hand…oh -" A jumble of Russian curses escaped and his hand was halfway to the phone, momentarily determined to call Danny out of whatever class he had and _demand _to know what was going on. He stopped quickly, eyes narrowed. Intangibility wasn't exactly something people caught, like some flu. How on earth could a human phase through solid objects? It was absurd, just the product of a stressed mind. That had to be it. The beaker hadn't fallen through the boy's hand, he had obviously just dropped it like he had every other one this semester. Danny was rather clumsy, that didn't mean he was able to be intangible.

Rubbing his temples, Mr. Wolfe looked up as the first few students wandered in. Luckily, fifth hour was a small enough class. They could simply start the assignment and give him time to get his mind focused again.

_Simply absurd, _he told himself, getting to his feet. _You're working far too hard, Winston. It'll drive you nuts if you're not careful._

"Good afternoon, everyone. We've got a chapter review today, so I hope none of you have left your brains wherever you seem so fond of leaving your books."

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**Lawl, I love my Winston. :3 My first OC, and he's such fun to work with.**

**The next chapter shall be…well, informative! 8D Many many things learned, on both their end and your's! I'm sorry this one's a tad short, but you'll forgive Waggy, right? And the blasted thing decided to switch POV on me in the middle…ah well. The next chapter will be a very interesting one. I've got most of it typed already, so once I come back to this it shouldn't take long at all to get it up! You get to learn much more about Mr. Wolfe! ^^**

**So very many thanks to my beta reader! She makes everything smooth-sounding and wonderful! ^^ So many many thanks to you readers! You're incredible, and I'm so grateful you've stuck around this long. Please review, you know how much I love them!**

**KUDOS!**

**~Waggy**


	15. Do Not Try This At Home

**Author's Note:**

**OHMYGOSH I'M SORRY PEOPLE**

**This chapter is sooo crazy late…D: I really apologize. School and life have been super hectic recently and I've had almost no time to sit down and work on things like this. I've had half of it done for ages and just barely got a chance to finish. Forgive Waggy! I don't know how often waits like this will happen, but know that I will definitely not give up on this story! Sometimes ya gotta just keep nagging me. X3**

**SO I hope you enjoy the chapter! It's nice and long and has BACKSTORY. Woot! Speaking of, no stealing Mr. Wolfe, kay? =3 You can PM me and whutnot and talk about using him but I will unleash hoards of undead hamsters on anyone who steals him.**

* * *

It wasn't often that Winston walked through the park anymore. His school schedule combined with the general business of life didn't give him time for it. However, today he had forsaken grading for a couple of hours dedicated to getting his racing thoughts under control.

The rest of the school day hadn't gone as smoothly as he could have hoped. It had been lucky there weren't any in-class experiments scheduled or the room might have acquired a few extra burn marks. Even after telling himself to put aside all thoughts of ghosts and one particular student they kept cropping up.

"It's absurd," he told himself again, hands in his coat pockets as he strode along the path. "I haven't even seen a ghost in this town, not since…" With a sigh, the man shook his head quickly. It was impossible, he knew that. Why, then, did he keep going back to the one theory that was impossible? It was his memory that was to blame. It certainly wasn't anywhere near eidetic or any similar condition, but the things he did remember stood out clearly.

That beaker wasn't just dropped. The more he thought about the event the more certain he was. Danny was clumsy, everyone knew that, but he hadn't actually dropped it. What, then-?

"_Ow! _No, stupid, _through _it, not into it…" With a start Mr. Wolfe looked up, brown eyes scanning the area in search of the voice. He hated irony sometimes. Maybe it would be easier to just continue walking, not confront the boy.

It had seemed like a good plan. He was a few yards further, hands in his pockets when the same voice suddenly sounded right behind him.

"Are you following me or something?" The man jumped, turning to find a pair of blue eyes narrowed accusingly at him. How on earth-?

"I would ask you the same thing," he said with a slight grin. "You seem to be appearing on a fairly regular basis now." Danny snorted, his expression far more serious than his teacher was used to seeing.

"Yeah, well…I practically live here now," he muttered, arms crossing. "What are _you _doing here? It's a school night, isn't it? I thought teachers got locked in the teacher's lounge on school nights." Winston chuckled, shaking his head.

"I managed to break out. I'm on the run now, just waiting for one of them to find me and drag me back." His attempted joke apparently had no effect and the teacher let his face grow serious once more. "Considering the fact you're alone, I take it nothing's changed since lunch?" Danny's face, if it were possible, grew even stonier as he glanced away.

"I am _not _about to apologize," he growled. "I'm not the one who-" The boy cut off, now watching the ground intently. "It's not like I asked for this." The statement was nearly whispered and Mr. Wolfe frowned.

"Didn't ask for—"

"How do they expect me to control this stuff?" he demanded, turning away from the man and glaring across the park. "It's not like I know how. It's not my fault it's—it keeps getting worse." Brown eyes blinked once in slight confusion.

"You do realize I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, don't you?" Winston inquired. Danny scowled as he glanced back, arms crossed tightly across his chest.

"Good," he muttered. "It's better that way. No one would…" The teenager trailed off, shaking his head. "I thought they might get it, they were there…just shows what I know about people."

"Daniel…" Mr. Wolfe sighed quietly, his hands going into his pockets. "Even if you don't want any help it never seems to do much good ranting if the receiving party has no knowledge of the situation. If I were—"

"I didn't _ask _for this!" The man flinched back as Danny turned suddenly, hands thrown in the air. He couldn't tell whether the expression on his student's face was one of anger or desperation, or perhaps a mixture of the two. Whichever it happened to be, Winston fell silent. "They act like I'm trying to make everything happen. They think I just want all of these—whatever it is, I didn't exactly put in a request to be a freak, alright? High school is bad enough already. Now I have to deal with _this_?" He paced a few steps restlessly and Winston could tell he was debating how much he would actually say. It was obvious the freshman had wanted an audience for a while, though now that he had one, the words were harder to find. "It's…it's not my fault!"

The park fell silent after this outburst and the teacher blinked again, one hand running through his hair as he sighed. An idea had formed in his head but he was hesitant to voice it.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with that…incident in your parent's lab, would it?" he asked. Danny seemed to choke a bit before letting out a hoarse, humorless laugh.

"Apparently you're the only person who even remembers that," he muttered. "Ironic considering you weren't even _there_."

"What happened?" The boy swallowed, his angry energy dissipating. He paced a few steps, hands clenching and unclenching intermittently at his side.

"You don't need to know," he stated quietly. There was no more venom in the words though, only a weary resignation. "It-it doesn't matter."

"Apparently it matters a good deal more than you're letting on," Winston pointed out. "If the incident was the cause of whatever's going on…"

"The _'cause'_, yeah, you could say that." For being so unwilling to talk, the boy seemed to be eager to say _something_. "If we hadn't stayed down there none of this would've happened. It'd just be another stupid invention that didn't work and I could still have a fairly normal life. I wouldn't-" He cut himself off with some effort, apparently having to remind himself that his teacher was present. Swallowing again, Danny shoved his hands into his pockets and forced himself to stand still. "If it weren't for the supposed ghosts they look for none of this would've happened." The park fell silent again and Mr. Wolfe hesitated only a moment before speaking, eager to find out something before the night was over.

"You said it was the Portal that malfunctioned, right?" The teenager blinked a few times, staring at the ground, then nodded quickly. "That was the one that…shocked you?" Danny scoffed, his gaze flickering up toward the man briefly before turning away again.

"You could say that."

"Then what part of this is only half true, Daniel?" The question was met with silence and he elaborated. "The story seemed believable enough, but if that were the end of the story I doubt you would be so stressed about it." The boy seemed to consider the statement before he ran one hand through his hair, shifting rather nervously on his feet.

"What would you do about it if there was something else?" he asked, suddenly very quiet. The teacher hesitated before shrugging, his arms crossed.

"I couldn't do much, could I? I can't exactly control you outside of school, you know. I would just like to know the full truth." The silence then stretched out but Winston made no move to break it. He was close, he knew, to getting _something _out of this attempt. Maybe this time he would actually get some answers, some explanation for the past few weeks.

"I wasn't by the Portal." Danny spoke softly and with a hefty amount of hesitation. He still refused to make eye contact, staring at the ground to one side. "I-there was a button on the inside. I guess it…activated it or something, it…" He seemed to choke a moment before continuing, suddenly faster as if he were trying to say it all before he questioned it. "It turned on when I was inside. The initial power-up was some kind of blast and it caught me straight-on. My parents-" The boy cut off suddenly, his hand clutching at his hair as he shook his head. "They just think it started working, they don't-they _can't _know! They'd freak just because of that, not to mention-" He fell silent again, swallowing. It took a moment for Mr. Wolfe to speak up, determined not to let it go at that.

"That's why you asked about the machines." It was more of a statement than a question. "You were worried there might be side-effects because of the ectoplasm in it." Blue eyes narrowed and Danny's arms tensed for a moment.

"Might be…" he muttered softly, barely loud enough to be heard. "Yeah, there _might be _some side-effects, huh? Real strong possibility there…"

"There were, weren't there?" Danny looked up suddenly at the question, eyes widening again. The expression on his face was enough of an answer. The man sighed, his initial fear apparently confirmed. "Ectoplasm is a touchy substance. The results of mixing it with an electrical current…not exactly something that's been tested, I suppose." After a moment he started down the path to a nearby bench, feeling a small surge of satisfaction as the teenager followed him. "I suppose if the conditions were right it may have a few odd effects. This would explain all of the accidents in my class, wouldn't it?"

"I-I don't-"

"I'm not blind," Winston assured him. "I've seen you when those beakers fall and half the time there's nothing normal that may have caused it. What would you call it, then?" Another silence as they came to a halt and Danny seemed to be going to great lengths to avoid the brown eyes that were leveled on him. After a few moments his own eyes closed and he ran one hand over his face with a soft groan.

"Intangibility…Tucker looked it up."

"I'm surprised anyone else knows the term; it's not one that's widely researched." The man managed a small grin, his arms falling to his sides again. "Intangibility; that would explain quite a bit, wouldn't it? I suppose it's something that would be difficult to handle." Danny almost looked shocked that his teacher hadn't run off screaming, and was actually looking up now, his expression an odd mixture of confusion and relief. The news was a shock, really, but after all Mr. Wolfe had seen a boy with strange 'abilities' wasn't something to send Winston sprinting to the nearest news station. It wasn't like anyone would have believed him, anyway. Only the few that had actually seen it…Shaking his head briefly to get it out of that train of thought, he turned his attention back to his student. "Anything else I should be aware of, then? I've come to expect you going through my entire collection of beakers by the time the month's out. I don't want any other surprises to make school so much more interesting."

"I, uh…" Swallowing again, Danny blinked a few times before his hand went to the back of his neck. "It's not as bad as it was originally," he finally stated softly. "I can…I'm almost controlling it now, but there are…others. They're a bit more noticeable, I guess." Others? The intangibility had been enough, really. With an attempt at nonchalance, the man shrugged.

"Such as?" In reply the freshman lifted one hand, a sudden look of intense concentration on his face. It relaxed after a moment and there was a slight pause before Winston actually noticed the change; the arm had vanished. It wasn't just pale or an outline, but entirely gone. He had to restrain himself from taking a step back and simply stared for a second before clearing his throat.

"Invisibility too?" It was fairly impressive, really, once one got past the blunt fact that his entire arm had vanished with little apparent effort. The arm came back in the next instant and dropped back to the boy's side as Danny looked away again.

"Yeah. Invisibility too. Everyone always says they'd want it as a superpower or something, right? Stupid thing's come in handy once. The rest of the time I'm just trying to keep from confirming my role as freak of the school." He snorted, hands shaking slightly as he crossed his arms. "Those two weren't so bad. We could handle it for the most part. It was the last bit that-" The teenager looked up briefly, his voice suddenly tight. "They freaked out. Sam and Tucker, they were fine with it at first. It freaked all of us out some, but they stuck with me. Now…" There was a pause before he continued rather hoarsely. "They're afraid of me. It's not like I blame them. It scares me too, honestly. You'd think, though, that they might actually try to act supportive or something, right?"

"What's the 'last bit', then?" Mr. Wolfe inquired with a slight frown. The first two were explainable enough. Ectoplasm - to those who actually knew it - could easily explain them. Were there any other powers common to such things? Flight, perhaps, but that seemed unlikely to scare a bunch of freshmen. It would be the best part of all of this if flight were included. Danny seemed to deflate suddenly, his shoulders sagging as he looked back down at the ground.

"Can I trust you?" His voice was low and the man leaned forward.

"Excuse me?"

"I-I need to know. If it gets out…if my parents find out I'd be dead. I'm dead if anyone finds out." Blue eyes finally locked with brown as he lifted his face very slightly, fists suddenly clenching at his sides. "Can I trust you?"

"Well…Of course you can. I'm not one to go sharing secrets, not unless it's a direct threat to someone's-" He was cut off, stepping back slightly as a sudden flash of blue light stunned him. It faded quickly and Winston couldn't keep his mouth from gaping as two rings split, sliding quickly up and down the boy's body. They vanished as soon as they had appeared and it took a good deal of blinking before he could process what exactly he was seeing.

The teenager standing in front of him was certainly not the one that had been there a moment before. The black hair was now snow-white. The normal t-shirt and jeans had changed to a black and white hazmat suit complete with boots and what looked to be thick gloves. His eyes were closed for a while but once they opened the switch from light blue to a piercing green was most startling. He had seen those eyes before, at least once. It hadn't exactly sunk in at the time, but now the man felt completely idiotic for not noticing.

"Daniel?" he finally asked, eyes wider than they had been in a long time. White hair bobbed slightly as the boy nodded hesitantly, his gaze pointedly fixed on a tree nearby.

"Unfortunately…" Gloved hands lifted for a moment in a gesture of defeat. "I don't even-I don't know what this _is. _I found it by accident, but Sam and Tucker tell me I was like this after the explosion." He snorted suddenly, eyes narrowing. "You'd think they'd remember something like that…"

"And you can do that on purpose?" There was a hesitation before Danny nodded again.

"Most of the time. It tries to change by itself constantly, though, I have to push it back." He paused, frown suddenly deepening and his expression turning to one of slight suspicion. "You don't even seem surprised," he accused. "I somehow doubt you see this sort of thing on a regular basis. Why aren't you scared like the rest were?" A rather grim smile came across the man's face and he pulled the collar of his shirt down slightly. The scar stood out as prominently as ever and Danny almost winced at the sight of it.

"You know how I got this, Daniel?" Winston asked. The teen shrugged, being quite obvious in his attempts to _not _stare.

"You were a Marine, we all just figured…"

"It wasn't in combat." His hand moved from his neck to run once through dusty brown hair. "That's what most people think, and I do nothing to contradict the assumption." He paused and then laughed. "Well, I say it wasn't combat…not your average combat, at least." The man sat with s sigh, looking up at the boy who was now floating a few inches off the ground. His white boots still seemed firmly planted on some solid surface, and as Danny appeared to be unaware of it, Winston put it out of his mind momentarily. "I've been interested in chemistry since I was younger than you, but I discovered a certain branch of it that caught my attention at once."

"Do I even want to know?"

"Trust me, you're bound to become familiar with the subject. Even more so now, I assume." He paused, then gestured vaguely at the ground and added "That's really getting a bit disconcerting; could you sit or something?" Danny glanced down and yelped, quickly falling back to the ground.

"I _hate _it when I do that, it's like I can't stay down when I'm like this…" Green eyes suddenly widened and he looked back at the teacher. "It was about the paranormal, wasn't it? _Crud, _don't' tell me you're like my parents-"

"Far from it." Winston held up one hand to cut him off. "Though I respect your parent's…enthusiasm, I was never quite as dedicated as they are."

"But you _did _study them…?"

"Indeed. My parents didn't approve, but I studied ghosts the entire time I was in college. There wasn't very much information back then, and ectoplasm was all but unknown. The few samples I got a hold of were far from cheap. I did discover a great deal about it, though." He gestured at the boy. "Your eyes, for example; the glow comes from the ectoplasm which is as plentiful in your head as blood is in my own. The substance is denser than water, but when the right kind of energy is put through it, it becomes lighter than helium. For that reason, flight does take energy, but very minimal amounts." He paused briefly, considering Danny. "Although, you may be an exception. I studied ghosts, but you aren't really one, are you? More of a…a hybrid, perhaps." Winston paused and then shook his head. "But I digress, as usual. Come, seriously Daniel, sit."

Danny paused, seeming wary as if the seat were rigged. "I'm fine standing, thanks."

"I haven't made a habit of booby-trapping park benches, you know."

After a moment's hesitation, the boy finally sank onto the seat. His head rested on one hand, fingers clutching at snow-white hair.

"So the whole…ghost chemistry or something?"

"Right, right…Once I graduated, I moved here, as even then Amity park was considered the most haunted town in the area. That wasn't saying much, really. I spotted a ghost maybe once every month, if that. They were little more than blobs most of the time, but on occasion a more…identifiable one would show up. People were terrified, of course. There was one…" Mr. Wolfe trailed off, glancing away. He took a purposeful breath before going on. "He called himself Tarrigon. He was one of the few that didn't come often, but when he did, the results were far worse than any of the others. Most ghosts showed up, ran around town for a day scaring people, then left. Tarrigon was different. He would show up and…attack. We had a few people hospitalized and one man was killed. He was the definition of malevolence, really. Your parents didn't have functional weapons back then; the attacks were what convinced them to research it."

"Right, so what does this have to do with chemistry?" The man grinned, shaking his head.

"I'm getting there Danny, trust me." He leaned back slightly, dark brown eyes surveying the sky. "I had a rather modest lab, enough to do some slightly complex experiments in. One night I had a paperclip moment." He looked down to see neon green eyes staring at him in bewilderment.

"A _what?_" It was still too strange, being able to see basic qualities of his student - the facial structure, expressions - in the ghost sitting next to him. He could only pray no one else would notice the similarities.

"The paperclip, one of the most well-known and widely used office supplies, was invented purely by accident. A mistake, really, but a brilliant one. I experienced a paperclip moment. Somehow I stumbled on a mixture that, for whatever reason, reacted…strongly when it came in contact with ectoplasm."

"How strongly?" Mr. Wolfe sighed slightly.

"Let's say it was similar to how people imagine vampires reacting to sunlight. It dissolved it, violently. I've no idea how I came across such a thing, but it was the ideal weapon against the ghosts that plagued the town. Quick, effective…and, as far as I could tell, lethal." The teacher paused and then laughed shortly. "Lethal might not be the right word, but never mind." He bit his lip and seemed to try and collect his thoughts before continuing. "I was…stupid, to put it bluntly. Over confident, proud of my discovery. I didn't tell anyone about it, not even your parents - who were already well-known for their research by then. Perhaps if I had, they would have told me all the things that took me by surprise. They would have warned me against going, or maybe even helped." He seemed to choke on the next words and let his eyes fall shut for a moment.

"So did you…" Danny hesitated briefly. "Did you hunt one or something?"

"Not just one of them Daniel," Winston sighed, running his hand over his face. "A specific one."

"Tarrigon?"

"Indeed." Silence fell over them, the only sound being the wind moving the trees around the small park clearing.

"What happened to him, then?"

"He's…gone now. But just barely." The man idly touched his scar as he went on. "It took a while for Tarrigon to show up again. I imagined he was elsewhere, terrorizing some other town. I got impatient, really. I never bothered testing the new weapon on any smaller ghosts, I was so confident in its effectiveness. That was a mistake." The teacher looked up again at the dim stars that were beginning to appear overhead. He hadn't realized it was this late…"Then he arrived. I went off of rumors; the news didn't bother reporting such things. I got my weapon - I had managed to design a small gun for it by then - and set out looking for him. It didn't take too long; I just had to run toward the screams instead of away from them. Tarrigon was…he was more violent than usual. There were a few holes in the buildings and at least one car was on fire. People were scared. _I _was scared. I was the only one stupid enough to not take cover."

"Hang on." Danny put a hand up, blinking. "You said there were things that took you by surprise. I thought you had studied the ghosts, how could -"

"I had studied what I knew of, nothing more. I knew they could fly and become invisible if they wanted, but other than that the ghosts were a mystery. Intangibility was a rumor, but we all assumed they were just substantial. They could do damage, after all, and you need to be solid to do damage." He shook his head wearily. "That was the main issue. I didn't know about the intangibility. If I had, I wouldn't have tried anything. He saw me soon enough…seemed to find it funny." Brown eyes shut and he grimaced as the event seemed to swim before his eyes.

"_Interesting," the ghost growled. "A human is trying to stand up to me, eh?"_

"_You better bet I am," Winston snapped. Most of his concentration was now going into keeping his voice steady. Tarrigon laughed, tossing the mailbox he held carelessly over one shoulder._

"_At last, a break in the monotony."_

"He was fast," Mr. Wolfe murmured. "A lot faster than I expected. I could tell it would be tough even then…and then he just sank right through the ground."

"_Come out here, you coward!" the young man finally shouted, already panting. His gun lowered and he took a steadying breath. Knowing his luck the ghost had probably just left, gone off to terrorize someone else._

_The sudden pressure at the back of his head came quickly, before he even registered the pain. He didn't notice he was in the air until he hit the asphalt. Only the strap over his shoulder kept the gun from flying loose._

"_Coward, am I?"_

_Red eyes glowered as the ghost leaned over Winston's head. "You call me a coward?" The man attempted to raise his weapon, only to have it smacked idly out of his hand. "You're a fool, human, a fool to confront one you have no chance of beating."_

The streetlights suddenly flickered on in the distance and they both started. They were far enough back so the lights didn't reach the bench; the glow seemed confined to the small circles beneath the lampposts. Mr. Wolfe glanced at the boy next to him, a very slight grin replacing his previous pensive expression. In the fading light, Danny's more ghostly attributes were prominent. He could now see a distinct glow around him that the man hadn't noticed before. It wasn't green, like most ghosts he'd seen floating around, but a pale white. His eyes weren't just neon green in color anymore; one could see a glow from them as well, although it seemed rather dim now. He guessed the brightness changed depending on the circumstances, similar to the green blobs he used to see dimming as they weakened. Even the snow-white hair seemed brighter…His train of thought was cut off suddenly as Danny turned to him with a raised brow as if inviting him to continue.

"For a little while, it seemed like the end of the fight. I was having trouble moving, let alone getting the gun and aiming. Really, I'm lucky he loved to brag."

"_My first actual challenge, eh?" Tarrigon laughed, circling the area casually. "Pitiful. If this is the best the humans can throw at me, it should be all too easy to level the place."_

"He thought I was done so he didn't bother finishing me off then. I was just an audience for his gloating. But…" He smirked rather grimly. "It wasn't for nothing I was the head of my platoon at basic training. I managed to get the gun back and stand while the beast's back was turned…probably the first of his prey to do so, and I think I was more surprised than he was. He got over it faster, though…"

_You could make a weapon out of ectoplasm? Winston stared at the glowing blade held in the ghost's hand, mentally reminding himself to investigate further if he survived. It seemed Tarrigon was fairly old fashioned._

_The fight was still far from fair, even though his opponent didn't vanish nearly as much. After the first shot he took simply went through a suddenly-appearing hole in the ghost, he didn't risk wasting the rest of the ammunition. He just had to wait for the right shot…The persistent throbbing in his head wasn't helping. Asphalt was far from forgiving, and the young man spent most of the time dodging, vaguely hoping to wear the ghost out. It didn't seem to work well, he had to admit. Tarrigon kept laughing, the sword whirling aimlessly._

"_You're dead, you wad of goo," Winston growled, skidding to a halt as a flash of green crashed into the cement where he had been standing a moment before._

"_Thank you for noticing," his oppressor shot back. "You, however, are not; something I plan to remedy." It wasn't for lack of trying; as well as the throbbing head and back, the young man sported a few persistently bleeding cuts where the blade had grazed or he had collided with some stray sharp object in the street._

"Everyone had run, of course, but I knew there were a few trying to watch from a reasonably safe distance." His face fell even more and his voice lowered. Danny had to lean in slightly to catch the next words. "The fools…" The teacher sighed, now watching the ground between his feet with apparent interest. "I don't blame them, of course, but…"

_The boy was young, perhaps eleven or twelve. Brown eyes had spotted him on one of his many crashes to the ground. The kid's own eyes were wide, his hands clutching the handlebars of the bike he still sat on. He obviously stumbled on the fight while heading home. He wasn't in the direct line of fire, but the battle really hadn't gone as expected so far. It would be far to easy for a strike to go astray._

"_Go!" Winston whirled around, eyes wide as he gestured frantically. "Get out of here, kid, he's not-" He cut off with a strangled gasp, the gun finally clattering to the concrete._

"_Never turn your back on an opponent," Tarrigon snarled. "First rule of battle, human."_

Mr. Wolfe gave a rather forced laugh. "Luckily the kid was pulled away by some smart woman afterwards. It seemed as long as they were out of the way, my own well-being didn't matter much."

_He seemed unable to get enough air. One hand went to his throat and he brought it away with a puzzled look at the crimson running down his fingers. Tarrigon stood a few feet away, the blade held at his side. Red eyes were now hard and narrowed as he surveyed his challenger. The green weapon vanished as soon as the man collapsed to his hands and knees, struggling to remain upright._

"_Hardly a challenge."_

_Winston attempted some snappy retort, his arms trembling as he tried to keep from falling. His mouth opened and closed a few times but nothing came out except a trickle of blood. Tarrigon snorted, bending down and picking up the fallen gun._

"_Pitiful," he scoffed, glancing over the weapon with little interest. "You really looked to beat me, didn't you?" The man's arms finally gave out and he hit the pavement with a strangled grunt. The blow hadn't sliced through his windpipe or any of the main arteries that were located there, but being hit in the neck with an ectoplasmic sword wasn't good for one's health, no matter how shallow it cut. He could feel what little strength he had left seeping out with the steady stream of blood. The ghost smirked, taking the gun in both hands, his red eyes flashing. The street was silent and Winston's ragged gasps seemed to echo off the buildings._

"_Only human, I suppose."_

_The metal gave way with a snap as the gun was bent. It took Tarrigon a moment to realize that the ammunition had come free, released from its slightly pressured hold. The dark green liquid caught the ghost on the face and upper chest, contrasting sharply with his own lighter green color. He glanced down at it with a rather puzzled expression as a faint trail of smoke began rising from the surface._

_The world had already begun fading, and the sudden infuriated scream echoed painfully in the young man's ears. He attempted to blink as shards of metal clattered once again to the ground. There was a faint tremor, what he could assume was the ghost collapsing, and Winston managed a weak grin before his mind went black. _It had worked…

He sighed softly as he managed to bring himself back to the present. Phantom pains nagged at his throat and the irony of the term wasn't lost on the man. He touched the scar idly again, remembering waking up to babbling doctors and what seemed like enough morphine to knock out a horse. It was lucky he had survived, they told him. Lucky whatever hit him didn't sever his windpipe, lucky there had been someone there who had seen to call an ambulance…he hadn't bothered to tell them how he was injured. They wouldn't have believed it. The staff just assumed his mind had blocked out the event and didn't ask too many questions.

"You asked why I wasn't scared of you, Daniel." Brown eyes lifted to the sky briefly and he lowered his hand with some determination. "It takes a lot to scare me these days."

* * *

**Longest chapter yet whut?**

**Stupid ending is…well, fairly stupid. XD I once again apologize for the wait!**

**The credit for Mr. Wolfe's backstory and the name Tarrigon go to Liz, my amazing friend/writing buddy. =3 She comes up with brilliant things in the middle of the night and is the only other person I know who thinks it's awesome to sit on her floor at 2 a.m. and roleplay. LOVE YA LIZ.**

**Just to make it clear, going out to fight a creepy malicious ghost with a weapon you haven't tested is very very dumb. -nod- Mr. Wolfe was very much an idiot, but at least he didn't die, yes? X3 He's not as stupid now, we hope! (-inserts a 'do no try this at home' subscript-)**

**SOOO many thanks to my beta reader, Dragondancer123. I would be incoherent without her. 3 And an equal amount of thanks to all of you for being so patient and not killing me for making you wait this long. You know how much I love reviews!**

**Until next time!**

**~Waggy**


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